You Kissed a Synthodrone?
by Backroads
Summary: Ah, the glorious final fifteen minutes of So the Drama. The action, the drama, the romance! Too bad it wasn't the real Kim there.
1. You Kissed a Synthodrone?

_So it's a little late for post-StD fics. But the plot bunny kept attacking! _

_Anyway, I do own Kim Possible. And I'm sure Disney's lawyers don't know where I live._

* * *

"I'm going to kill you." It wasn't the first time those words had echoed through the police station, rallying irritated sighs and a few flirtatious winks from a tattooed mansion burglar. Yeah, like Shego was going to give him the time of the day. Or night. Whatever time it now was. Her position on the bench was not the best one to see the clock from. And no way was she asking Tattoo Boy. Or the lazy cop spending eternity on paperwork and yelling at the receptionist. Oy, but police stations weren't what they used to be. The good old days when they would instantly slam her behind bars and leave her to her own sweet time of escaping. But no! She had to sit here with all the local rifraff while Officer Donut-Belly tried to figure out how to process an arrestee. She seriously doubted he could tell time, anyway.

And there was even less of a chance of her asking Dr. Drakken. The moron sitting next to her. Yeah, he probably had a watch. All she was giving him were the death threats.

"So... what am I supposed to do if we're out of cell space?" the cop asking, reaching for another donut from the receptionist.

This wasn't happening to her. She took a deep breath, another attempt to calm the frazzled nerves of near-eloctrocution. "Dr. D, I am seriously going to kill you."

The cop swiped two donuts. "Hey, blue dude, hungry?"

No. He was so not offering Drakken a donut.

Drakken's eyes lit up. "Ooh... pink frosting with sprinkles..." He happily took it between his teeth. Apparently the cop wasn't dumb enough to do the service of removing the cuffs.

Shego's hands twisted at the handcuffs. "I almost trusted you. I almost thought you had an almost-brilliant idea. I almost thought you almost defeated Kim Possible."

Drakken mumbled something between donut crumbs and frosting.

"I can't hear you," she hissed. "How about I just shove the entire thing down your throat?"

He swallowed and licked the last of the sprinkles from his lips. Though she sensed that, with the noticeable lack of chewing, there was still a healthy chance he could still choke. "She wasn't supposed to do all that, Shego. It isn't my fault. Mm, that was a good donut."

"Forget the stupid pastry. I'm still going to kill you." Tattoo-Boy was smiling at her again. Some lame Chinese Dragon stretched across muscles that had long ago turned to fat. Ick. "Wait. What do you mean 'she'?"

Probably not the smartest thing to bring up with Drakken freshly arrested. "I didn't think she would do that. She was supposed to help us." His face twisted into rage. It would have almost been scary--if it hadn't been Drakken and there hadn't been pink frosting on his chin. "And that programming was supposed to be so right..."

This was news. Again he was keeping things from her. "And would you care to explain?"

"No," he said with the impertinence of a preschooler. "You'll just get mad."

"I'm already mad."

"Hey, Mr. Officer Man!" Tattoo-Boy suddenly shouted. "Give big-haired green girl a blueberry donut. And put it on my tab."

Every cop in the room stared. Then, to her horror, the cop at the desk went fishing through the donut plate.

Again, Tattoo-Boy winked.

Several others were added to her mentallist of people to kill.

* * *

When dramatically flinging open a door, it was best to make sure that said door was fully flung open and out of movement before entering a room. But Ron didn't care. His nose wasn't bleeding that badly. Bedroom door safely closed behind him, he threw out his arms and gave a jubilant "Boo yah!" to anyone who would hear. His parents downstairs. But they were already sick of the story of the night. 

Oh well. Rufus was happy. Rufus would still listen. Rufus had helped anyway. The naked mole rat hopped from Ron's pocket to the dresser, squeaking excitedly.

Ron felt like doing the same. If he had the ability to speak naked mole rat, of course. But yes, the night had been good. The night he had been dreading, that had been full of Bueno Nacho horror, maybe just a little jealousy and, of course, getting knocked unconscious, had turned out so well.

The Prom. His first Prom--that he had actually wound up attending. And, like a dream, it had been with Kim. What were the chances? The cheer of the student body and the janitor--why had he been there anyway? And, of course, that kiss with Kim. So much better than the one in front of her locker with the moodulator and everything. A real kiss, one they both participated in. One that lasted for eternity until they both realized they needed water and lip balm. Not nearly as long as the last kiss of the evening. Dropping Kim off at her doorstep and getting a goodnight kiss--that had lasted approximately ten glorious seconds and had ended with her dad storming out of the door with some fancy rocket science ray gun of some sort and her mom happily snapping photos.

But it had been good. Yes, it had been good.

He changed out of his dad's old tux and flung it to the floor. A dream. That was how to describe the night. A wonderful dream that like a miracle was true. But it still felt unreal, somehow. Well, with his social luck, that was to be expected. Now, which drawer did he keep his pajamas in?

After several minutes of flinging things out of dressers, he fell back in his bed, knowing full well he wasn't going to sleep that night. Not after all of that.

Did Kim feel the same way?

What was she doing now, anyway?

* * *

Kim really needed to develop some better skills with the various types of laser bindings. Four hours. Four long hours and she still hadn't made a dent in the process of freeing herself. And the complete lack of light wasn't much help, either. She took another deep breath and twisted once more. Just the deep pressure of the bounds that were refusing to give way. 

This wasn't fair. She finally collapsed back onto the cement floor, panting. She must look a mess. The floor wasn't clean, whatever building she was in wasn't clean, she was sweating in Wade's stupid super suit, and her hair was so lacking the volume she had moosed into it prior to the Prom.

The Prom. Now that really wasn't fair! It was her prom! She was supposed to go! And longer than the twenty minutes she had gotten! Every other girl on the planet tonight had gone to the Prom, all pretty and dressed up like princesses, with cute dates.

And she had somehow been captured by Drakken.

She had barely gotten to wear her dress. The dress that Erik had liked.

Erik. She struggled once more, summoning every escape artist trick she knew. That... that jerk! The first guy she ever seriously liked had to turn out to be... a jerk. A robot, excuse her, 'synthodrone' created by Dr. Drakken. Though she had to give the villain credit for making one so cute and charming and--

Ugh. What was her problem tonight? Erik was not cute! Erik was an evil synthodrone that hadn't even taken her to the Prom in a limo. And he hadn't been all that impressive, anyway.

And yet it was still there. The last image before all this darkness... trapped in Erik's arms after a supposedly comforting hug... the look on his face as he sent all that electricity through her... She hadn't felt actual heartbreak there, had she?

And she had to wake up to this, then.

She should have just gone to the Prom with Ron. Like everyone, even Bonnie and Monique, had been hinting. Ron was her best friend. He would have made an okay date after a few quick etiquette lessons. She liked Ron.

But what kind of friend was she for dragging him into this mess?

If only there was some sort of light... She hadn't heard him at all. No doubt he had been captured as well. If he hadn't, well, wouldn't he have rescued her by now? So hard to admit that he sometimes was the one who did the hero work. But he could... and he wouldn't have left him behind?

Though with all the Erik issues... No, Ron wasn't that way. He was no Erik.

That jerk!

Yikes. This was pathetic. Thinking about guys when she still had to somehow escape this... wherever she was.


	2. Bugs in the System

_This may be the last post of this story for the summer. Sorry! But I'm heading off this weekend to lovely Camp Bartlett to force Scouties to learn First-Aid! (Bartlett is better than Loll!)_

* * *

Rockets were good things. Oh, but they were very good things. Mr. Possible remembered the first time he had ever seen a rocket, the young, care-free age of five, when the older neighbor kids, rebelling from the norms of science class pets, launched them in the field behind the Possible farm. He still remembered the cops showing up at the fist fight that had succeeded the intellectual debate over velocity and physics of those aforementioned rockets. The gossip that had followed! It wasn't the fire department putting out the blaze in Old Mr. Emmet's wheat field that had captured his imagination, but those rockets against a country night.

And, dang, but they proved useful! Even after dedicating his life to their science, they never ceased to amaze him. Especially with all the technology and research going into them–and the birth of these amazingly nifty mini ones. Complete with aiming device–he had designed that part himself. And they could be released at any time, the fuel giving to temporary storage.

All he had to do was keep them lovingly pointed at the porch. It was fifteen minutes to ten o'clock, and he had yet to see lights in the driveway. Sure, technically the boy had quarter of an hour of safety, but melted synthodrone thing or not, that Erik boy had better not be wanting to push at curfew.

A heavy sigh came from the living room entrance. "Dear, I don't think you're going to have to worry about blowing Erik to smithereens." His wife paused there, cup of coffee in hand and the same tired expression she had been wearing for the past hour all over her face. "You saw the news. That brain-immitating synthogoo ran right out of him. And Kimmie took care of the rest. She can handle evil, you know that."

Mr. Possible sniffed. "Just because Kimmie's date turned out to be a villainous robot that was destroyed doesn't mean he can't bring her home at a decent hour!"

"Actually..."

He readjusted the rocket's aim. Hit the center of the porch. That would probably get everything. "I've decided that we're done with this conversation."

She sighed again and shook her head. "Okay, you're her father! Just don't expect a whole lot."

Curse that reminder. He had been waiting for an excuse to test this rocket. "But–"

Whatever argument he was going to attempt to bring up was shot down with the sound of footsteps outside.

Mrs. Possible gave a girlish squeal more appropriate for Kim's older sister than her mother. "Oh, Kimmie's first prom! And she's going to tell me all about it!"

The door opened and Kim stepped in, all aglow.

She better not have been holding hands with some boy. Mr. Possible stared past his daughter to the porch. Empty. Except for a lone figure spinning away. He carefully focused the rocket. A moving target... that would be a most interesting test... it'd have to be done eventually, why not now?

"Dad, leave Ron alone," Kim practically sang, doing a twirl across the carpet.

"Good time at the prom, Kimmie?" Mrs. Possible asked, setting down her coffee. "We were watching that bit on the news, I thought that Erik was such a nice guy..."

"So I have bad taste, Mom." She laughed. "But Ron! Wow! Mom, I wound up with Ron at the dance! You know, after I rushed home without a word to grab my dress..."

"Bad topic, your father was panicking over Erik. Old Mrs. Gertrude Williams may never recover from that plasma bomb."

"She earned it for stealing our paper!" Mr. Possible said defensively. "But.. Ronald? You met up with Ronald?"

Kim nodded. He had never seen his daughter so happy. This sort of happy... it almost wasn't normal. Almost not Kimmy...

"It was the weirdest thing!" she continued. "I never knew how wonderful Ron was! We went into the gym, and everyone cheered and..." She sighed. "And then we kissed."

"Kissed?" Mr. Possible's eyes widened. "Ronald kissed you?" His face twisted into a frown. "And I thought he was such a nice boy..." Now what direction was the Stoppable residence in?

She sent him one of those poor-old-dad gazes. "Dad, it was fine. Just a kiss. Nothing more. But Mom, it was great! Even better than slamming Shego into a power system..."

"Oh, yeah." Mrs. Possible frowned. "I was meaning to mention that. It looked really cool, but didn't you think..."

"Mom, she deserved it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go write this all in my diary."

Mr. Possible watched as she blew a kiss and raced up the stairs, burnt prom dress swirling around her legs. She was growing up so darn fast...

He was going to have to watch Ronald now. All these years and that nice Ronald kid had turned out to be a guy.

"Kim kissed a boy!" Jim shrieked from the other side of the house. "Kim kissed a boy!"

Jim's voice joined in with laughter. "Cooties! Cooties!"

Then came an unexpected thump, followed by more laughter. "Now stay out of my room!"

Kim had found guests in her room.

And had done something.

Mr. Possible exchanged confusion with his wife. "Did Kimmie just...?"

The twins appeared at the top of the stairs, eyes bright, Jim rubbing his shoulder.

"Since when did Kim learn how to wrestle like that?" he asked.

So this was Kim Possible's room, Synthodrone 993 thought to herself with a dramatic flinging open of the door. Or her room. It was becoming fuzzy now. All that programming... her system wasn't meant to take all of that! Too much programming! Well, it would be her room for the night, then.

And it was a nice room. So much better than the testing place Dr. Drakken had come up with. Stupid labs. No fashionable taste whatsoever. No wonder Shego had been so irritated with the guy.

Of course, Shego was irritated with her, at the moment. Shego had never been too fond of the synthodrone line. Well, that was perfectly understandable for the early ones, but once Dr. Drakken had installed that personality modifier chip, the line had become quite impressive. Hey, it had produce her. And that idiot that had gone under the name of "Erik." Well, he had been pretty cute.

Cute. She put a hand to her head, feeling the electricity flowing drastically through the goo inside of her. Ouch... this wasn't expected. Erik was "cute", she supposed. Yes, she was supposed to think that.

The real Kim Possible thought he was cute.

Dr. Drakken had given her so much Kim Possible-like programming.

But Erik... no, Erik wasn't cute! He couldn't be!

Ron was cute.

With a small scream she flung herself on the bed. This wasn't computing properly! That hadn't been the assignment, to think him cute!

Cute... cute... cute. Like Ron, Like Erik.

She really didn't want another weird power surge.

Cute...

Not another power surge. Power through her body wasn't good. She hated that feeling...

It couldn't last very long. Dr. Drakken was supposed to give her repairs.

It couldn't last long...

She was supposed to be breaking Dr. Drakken out of jail now. Right now. She glanced at the clock. And almost screamed.

2:00. 2 AM. She sat up, fuming. The power surge wasn't supposed to last that long! Well, Dr. Drakken wasn't going to be very happy. Of course, he wasn't supposed to be in that position. But it wasn't her fault.

She still wasn't sure what had happened back there. The program had been so simple. Once the real Kim Possible was locked up, she'd be tied to a giant Mexican symbol. Ron Stoppable would think she, Synthodrone 993, was Kim. She would pretend to be Kim, even past her programming. Once Ron Stoppable was on her side, they'd run off. And she'd help with everything. And destroy Ron Stoppable and Wade Lode, the last remnants of Team Possible.

Something had gone wrong... she shook her head. Dr. Drakken had promised she didn't have any bugs in her system. She had promised.

Maybe part of her was leaving him in prison on purpose. Maybe part of her had sent him there in the first place.

Well, the charade could continue. Dr. Drakken would understand. Make everyone think everything was okay. Then break him out of jail and help him out.

He was going to be mad that she had gone to a–prom, yes, that's what it was called. Her programming was supposed to make her like Ron. Ron was nice.

He had said he liked her...

No, he had been talking to the real Kim, or so he thought. So that had been directed to the real Kim!

And why did she care?

She closed her eyes and sunk back onto the bed. She could get used to this sort of comfort.

Something must have happened back at the lair's lab. She knew very well Dr. Drakken didn't program her this way. After all, it was sort of gross to kiss a human. There had to be something unethical about that.

Well, no more of this. She sat back up and jumped from the bed. That suit thingy was still on the floor. She liked that! That Wade kid could give Dr. Drakken a run for his money in the invention department.

That Wade kid... for a moment she panicked. He was smart. He didn't suspect anything, did he? No funky scans or anything...

Well, she had fooled Ron, apparently.

She picked up the suit thingy, admiring it. Nice color. Functional, yet still stylish, in a futuristic video game sort of way. The real thing. Shego had thought it a blast to snatch it from Kim Possible, leaving her with a cheap fake.

Feeling quite pleased with her out, No. 993 slipped on the suit. It fit her just as well as the real Kim Possible. And it would be useful for busting out Dr. Drakken and Shego.

She hoped they wouldn't be too mad. She hadn't meant to ruin the plan. It was Dr. Drakken's fault.

But it'd be okay. She'd explain that it had just happened, she hadn't meant to throw Shego into that electric system, and tell him about the bugs. No thinking about Ron. No.

Dr. Drakken would fix her. She was sure of it.

* * *

Apparently the power cells were weak. Apparently they were very weak. Somewhere around 6 AM, Kim forced aside the laser rope thingies surrounding her body. They broke away in an array of light, biting the darkness for a moment before dying into nothing. Stupid things. Then she lay there, gasping.

Wow. She had never been in chains that long. Never. Amazing how fatiguing being bound up for hours could be.

Her dad was going to be furious. Her out all night... but she had been captured.

Drakken had finally captured her. And Ron had refused to show up.

And the place was still pitch black. She fumbled around, searching for some sort of light. In one of these stupid boxes. Cardboard. What kind of dungeon was this?

"Drakken," she called out, trying to hide the panic in her voice. "Oh, Drakken!"

No reply.

She tripped over a box. Dang.

Where was her bag? Drakken wasn't smart enough to separate her from her bag, was he? She slid to the floor, feeling for it. Her hands slid over a flashlight. Good enough. She flicked it on. Yes, a storage area. Underground. Lots of boxes. And an old Port-a-Potty.

She almost wanted to cry. How could Ron leave her to this?

Then she saw what she was wearing.The super suit Wade had made for her was gone. Replaced by some... ugly yellow thing. Well, it sort of felt like the super suit.

Who the heck had changed her clothes without her permission! She fell back against a box, feeling tears coming from her eyes. "Worst prom night ever," she muttered. All this time she had thought she had been in the super suit.

But she couldn't worry about that now. She had to get out of here and find Ron.

Which wouldn't be too hard. She swirled the flashlight over to a corner of the room, where a broken "Exit" light hung over a door with a clearly broken lock.

Well, this was embarrassing. Especially with so much that needed to be done. She took a deep breath and shook a piece of paper from her foot. It floated into the beam of her flashlight.

Some technical description in bad cursive. And a computer drawing.

Mildly curious, she picked it up.

"... need full personality profile of Kimberly Anne Possible. Program into Synthodrone 993..." The drawing was of her.

The paper fell from her hand.

* * *

**Shout Outs!**

Aero Tendo: Well, it will take awhile...

Akemi: I like being mean to Ron. )

Allaine: Exactly! Drakken couldn't be that stupid!

BabyMama9672: Thanks!

BlinknSkater: Thanks!

Drakken's Woman: Loll girl! Loll girl! Curse you and your Lollness!

eViLrEaDeR: Thanks! Still, I hate cranking up ratings in stuff that ruins canon. Frankly, I figure that if someone will only read my story for sex and violence, it's a pathetic look on me. I try to focus on story. Besides, most people take KP out-of-character with T and above. It's hard for me to do it correctly. But thanks for the suggestion.

gargoylesama: Thanks!

G-Go: Thanks! It was actually midnight, climbed-out-of-bed writing. But thanks! Yeah, I liked the irony of Ron kissing the synthodrone. As for the processing... I figure the cops stopped being so serious with Drakken after so many times.

Kimberly Anne Possible: Thanks! The idea actually sprain from a joke...

Lady Kazaana: You mock her solitude!

MarkKB: Thanks!

pixie2010: Thanks!

ShadowGirl: Heck, I hardly ever write T! ) Um... I don't know if synthodrones have drool! What do you think?

Toast: I fear the Disney lawyers... they haven't had their shots.

Widow Shark: Thanks!

WWLAOS: You were mostly on with your musings. Congrats!


	3. Saturday School

_Greetings! I have finally returned from summer camp! And have a new chapter for you! Criticisms are most welcome in particular on this chapter–I can't write fights even when my life depends on it._

* * *

"Shego..."

Oi. Shego closed her eyes in a momentary pause of disarming the security features. That... voice! How could she have survived so long with that awful voice whining like a sick dog every time she was trying to get something done! Well, now certainly wasn't the time to panic. Not with Officer Donut-Belly's Donut-Belly Friend finally asleep. Guards. When would they ever learn? Maximum security. She was supposed to be in maximum security. "Yes, Dr. Drakken?"

A pause "Are we out yet?"

Her eyes forced themselves open and back around to glare at him, sitting rather grumpily against the bars of the cell while still staring in happy anticipation. A strange blend of moods.

Shego remembered her plan to kill him. Eventually. She held up the tools– a nailfile improvised with acid and some random invention Drakken had managed to hide away in that really bad sports suit–then gestured at the still-standing bars. "Does it look like we're out? Does it?"

A moment of fear flashed into his eyes as he studied her work so far. "No..."

"Then why are you even bothering to ask?"

"Well, Shego, I just thought that–"

She flung the nailfile at his head. "Thought what? Please tell me what you thought?"

"Never mind."

"That's what I thought." She dipped Drakken's tool...thing under the loosening bar, praying the guard wouldn't wake up. Still, she had to admit this was fun in an old-school kind of way. She hadn't escaped from a prison cell in such a primitive way in several years. Good times, good times. If only Drakken wasn't with her. "So, does your little synthodrone ever plan on coming to rescue us?"

Drakken shrugged and tinkered with the nailfile. "I don't know. She was one of the better ones, I thought. Though I suppose things might have slowed down after that 919 disaster. 901 was our only good one."

"901 was destroyed by a naked molerat, in case you don't remember this night's disaster."

"I thought you liked 901, Shego."

"I did not–" Okay, so she had sort of made a pet out of 901. Good ol' Erik. Not that he had lasted. Drakken's stupid robots needed to be made out of something a tad sturdier. Just like his head needed to be a tad sturdier. "Well, like always, your idea didn't work. So why don't you hand me that nailfile and start helping."

Drakken's eyes went wide. "But I–"

"Fine. Don't help." She marched over and snatched the file from his hand. "I'll just save your butt like I always do." She slid the file underneath the bar, squeezing the button that would release the acid... not too much. Even these savage prisons could surprise you. Just enough to slowly melt the–

Red lights ate through the shadows as the alarm went off in all kinds of banging glory. Shego swore and dropped the nailfile. They had security against acid at Middleton Prison, now? Who would have thought?

But the alarm hardly last five seconds before just as quickly it was gone, throwing the prison back into dim light. A figure dropped from the ceiling, and Shego's blood instinctively went cold.

But... Oh, yes. Drakken would never let her live this down.

"Dr. Drakken Emperor of the Universe?" the familiar voice of Kim Possible asked. "Shego? Sorry I'm late, but it was the prom, you understand."

Drakken was instantly on his feet, face beaming. "993! You came!"

993 stepped into the light, once again wearing that hideous suit of Kim Possible's. "I... I don't know what went wrong back there."

"Yes, 993," Drakken replied with reversing mood. "We weren't supposed to end up arrested, in case you don't remember."

"And I wasn't supposed to get my hair fried!" Shego snapped. "The conditioner this is going to take..."

"Oh, you'll be fine," 993 sang, pulling out a mini laser and slicing through the bars. "I'm very sorry, but... no one suspects me even now. And you do have Kim Possible locked up, right?"

"Of course we do. I didn't let Drakken tie her up." Shego pushed through the bars, relishing the way they slammed to the ground and still failed to wake up that disgusting guard. Rescued or not, she still wasn't pleased with that robot. If only she could just throttle the thing... "If you ever think of throwing me into something again..."

"I won't! I'll even get you some conditioner. Really, Dr. Drakken Emperor of the Universe–"

Shego glared at Drakken. "What did she call you? She's said that twice now."

Drakken just grinned sheepishly. "Well, I was programming some responses and–"

"Whatever. I'll program her, too. Let's just get out of her." She ran to the still-sleeping guard and ransacked his keys. Very old-fashioned. Almost Old Western.

"Speaking of programming," 993 began. "I..."

Shego and Drakken turned to look at her.

"I really think I glitched back there, which is why everything went wrong," she continued. It was so odd to think of this thing as not Kim Possible, Shego realized. "But... I think I'll be fine now. I don't think you need to look at me."

"Oh," Drakken said. "Okay, then. Just don't short out again. You were expensive."

Idiots, Shego thought, stepping out the door into the night air. They were both idiots. And that synthodrone sure thought a lot of herself.

* * *

Kim stared miserably down her street. 7:30 in the morning. Normally she would be sleeping in on a Saturday, especially after spending the night trying to free herself and hunt down the usual villains. No sign of anyone. Not that she had bothered to look. Especially after that drawing...

She took a deep breath, trying to think. 993. Synthodrone 993. Yet another synthodrone. Needing... her personality? What was that supposed to mean? But Erik–Synthodrone 901–he was the only Synthodrone she had seen.

What was Drakken even up to?

Well, that's what she was going to try and figure out. Ron had been nowhere inside that room. So unless Drakken had him somewhere else... She really needed to reach a computer. Get a hold of Wade. Figure out what the heck was going on.

If she didn't fall asleep on her bed first.

"Kim!"

Kim screamed as two arms like lassos flung themselves around her. Her first instinct was to...

"No way, girl. No way are you pulling that bad guy attack bit on me. I don't care how you psyched you are."

"Monique?" Kim asked, slowly pulling herself out of the backwards hug.

"Of course it is!" Monique skipped around to face her. "I don't have time to chat now, I'm opening at Club Banana, but, wow, I'll call you when I'm done today. After prom last night, girl, you must G. M. D.!"

"Give you details?" Kim repeated. "About... Prom? But–"

"No, not now. Car won't start so I have to make the bus downtown. We'll talk later." And in a flash, Monique was running down the street.

Prom? Details? What was going on? "Monique! Wait!" But Monique was too far gone.

Monique didn't even know the truth about Erik. She must have thought... oh, boy. Monique was not going to like those details. Kim continued to trudge toward the house. How was she going to explain this to her parents? They must be worried sick. She slid into the house, prepared to be covered in hugs and scolds about not battling evil too late.

Her mom was on the coach, reading a medical mystery paperback and drinking coffee.

Here it was, Kim thought. The tears. "Hey, Mom. I'm back. And I'm fine."

Her mom stared up at her. "Back already? You've been gone for only half an hour. Oh... you want to change out of that suit. I can't believe you put it back on. Probably reinacting last night." She then proceeded to give the scariest wink Kim had ever seen.

"Mom? I just... I've been gone all night."

"I know. I was your age. You're in a dream world. But..." Fear ran over her face as she set the novel down. "It's still okay, isn't it? I mean, everything was wonderful when Ron came over this morning."

"This morning?" So Ron hadn't been captured? Then where had he been?

"You really are out of it," her mom said with a laugh. "You both decided to run over to the school this morning, I don't know why. So everything still is fine?"

"No, it's—" Kim took a deep breath, pulling a snarl out of her hair. She really needed a shower. "So I was here this morning?"

"In body, anyways. Same as last night. Oh, to be young again."

"I came home last night?"

"Yes. Just after Prom. It was so cute. You know, I've been hoping for this–"

Kim spun around. "Sorry, Mom, but I really need to go."

"Back to the school? So everything is okay?"

"Yes, back to the school." As for everything being okay... she still had no idea.

Something very weird was going on.

* * *

"Sorry I forgot it was a Saturday," Ron said. No, repeated. He still felt very stupid about that little mistake. He hadn't gone to school on a Saturday since... well, three months ago. But it was still a rare occurrence. Yet it was nice, sitting in an empty school building. Just him and Kim, her hand in his. Who would have thought? It still didn't feel real.

"Eh, no big. I forgot, too," Kim replied. "Besides, we can use this time to catch up on our homework."

"Homework? Kim, no way. We do use Saturdays for homework. At least I don't. You know that perfectly well." Perhaps that Finals warning banner stretched above the office door was getting to her.

"What's wrong with homework? I mean, we really need to work on our chemistry."

"Kim, I'm not falling for that one again." And yet he was. Her arms were around his neck and his lips were on hers. Rather nice. Still, he didn't think Kim would ever want to kiss someone this much.

Not that he was complaining or anything.

"So," she said, pulling away. "What do you think we should do today? Since you don't want to do homework?"

"Uh..." He had never really thought about what he and Kim would do as a couple. If they ever became a couple. Which apparently they were now, so he was really unprepared. "We could... go to Bueno Nacho?"

"Are they even open this early?"

"No. But they should be."

"I'm not even going to ask how you knew that." She leaned back against the wall, her hair tangling with the corduroy. "I guess we're some couple, aren't we?"

Ron laughed. "I was just thinking the same thing. But... I guess we'll get better at it, won't we? I mean, it was bound to happen sooner or later, right?"

"Right." Wow, but he loved the way she laughed. "Hey, Ron, can I ask you a question?"

Questions. Were questions any different in these kinds of relationships? A very weird sort of panic was setting in. "Um, sure, Kim."

She leaned her face closer to his, smiling broadly. "Ron, how long did you like me this way before last night?"

"Erm..." He had absolutely no idea how to answer that sort of question. And it was going to kill the mood. This lovely mood in a big empty school hallway with the white noise machine going and a fly buzzing somewhere... that was romantic, wasn't it? "Well, I really don't–"

"Shh." She placed a finger on his lips. "Hold that thought, but I think I hear something."

He shook her hand away. "Besides... what?"

"I'll be right back." She jumped to her feet and sped around the corner.

Ron just stared after her. Huh. Usually she would have made him come. Kim was acting rather... different.

Oh, well. At least it gave him time to come up with a good answer.

* * *

Kim threw open the school doors, feeling worse than ever. What a day this was turning out to be. Or second day, continuing from last night. The schoolyard was still littered with balloons and confetti from last night that somehow had managed to leave the gym in the pockets of pranksters and scrapbookers. That wonderful prom she had helped design that she had attended for a grand total of five minutes. Well, it had been with a guy that had turned out to be a robot or something.

What had happened to Erik, anyway? Where was anyone?

Well, if her mom was right, the Ron mystery was going to be solved. She stepped inside, finally realizing how dorky this fake powersuit thing was. Wade was going to make her another one, though, if the real one didn't turn up.

Was she really so bitter after zero sleep? She turned a corner. No one. Why would Ron be at the school? And... herself?

Nothing was making sense.

"Ron?" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. The echo ricocheted through the school. "Ron?"

"Kim?" There it was. Ron's voice.

He stepped around a corner, looking rather bewildered.

Kim didn't know whether to kill him or hug him. First things first... grill him about what was going on. "Ron, what happened last night?"

He stared at her. "Um, you went to change back into that thing?"

"Ron!"

"I was just asking! Listen, um, I was thinking about your question and–"

Kim sighed. "So tell me what happened last night. Because something very weird is going on and–"

He laughed. "You know exactly what happened last night. I'm sorry I didn't come up with an answer before you left, but you just ran off and–"

"Left? Ron, I just barely found you–"

"Okay, that's a really creepy but romantic way to put it," he replied with a blush. "But, here's the answer. The honest one. I have no idea how long it's been, but when Erik showed up, I guess that's when I realized..."

Erik. So he knew about Erik. That was good. "When you realized he was a synthodrone?"

"Um, I didn't realize he was a synthodrone until you did!" Ron's eyes went wide. "You're not calling this all rebound, are you?"

"Rebound? Ron, what are you talking about?" The temptation to just give him a good shake was growing. Or maybe everyone was a little confused. "Ron, I spent all of last night–"

"I know how you feel, Kim! I couldn't sleep, either! And then you gave me that question just barely and..." He was blushing even more. Why? "Oh, heck, I'll just say it. It has nothing to do when Erik entered the picture. I've felt this way for a very long time. And since it's been going on all morning, I'll just..."

Then, before Kim could react, Ron's arms were around her and he was...

Kissing her.

What was going on? For a moment she couldn't do anything, wasn't sure she wanted to do anything, but... for crying out loud, what was going on? This was so not right!

She barely felt her arm move. It was a complete and separate reaction that she yet utterly agreed with. Instantly she was free, and Ron was six feet away holding his throbbing face.

"Don't you ever do that again!" she shouted.

"But I–"

"What is up with you?" s Good grief, she had just slapped her best friend. Of course, her best friend had never kissed her before, either. Think, Kim, she told herself. Think. Ron and her mom had accused her of changing clothes. So that might mean...

Leaving Ron in bewilderment, she took off down the hall.

This was insane. This was completely insane. The same thought pattern flew through her mind as she ran through the school. So apparently she had come home last night. Apparently she had come here with Ron this morning. Apparently Ron was... oh, she didn't want to think about that. And apparently she was not supposed to be wearing this stupid suit. Now here she was, not even certain what she was looking for.

That little diagram of Drakken's. About the Synthodrone. She whirled around a corner and--

The impact was hard. Kim fell back and skidded into a wall. "Oh, my gosh, I'm sorry. I'm–" She lifted her eyes.

It was her. Except this her was already on her feet, staring back at... herself. Oh, but that was a very weird sensation.

Drakken wasn't doing more cloning, was he? No, the paper about the synthodrone...

Suddenly everything made sense. Except for Ron. But... coming home last night... Why Ron hadn't been captured...

Oh, no. Now everything did make sense.

"You!" the synthodrone shrieked in a too-familiar voice. Well, as a familiar as one's own voice could be from hearing it in recordings and whatever else. "You're not supposed to be here!" She sprang forward in a flip, landing just before Kim.

But Kim had managed to get up. A synthodrone. Just like Erik. Well, synthodrones could be... could they be dealt with? She grabbed the thing's arm, tossing it over her back.

Except the synthodrone escaped, tore her arm free in midair. The synthodrone was good.

"Nice outfit, Kim," it said from behind her. "Especially for a copy. I have the original, if you're interested."

So that's what had happened. "Oh, you are so going down!" Kim jumped out of the way as the synthodrone rushed at her.

And as it flipped down to swipe at her legs.

Kim leaped up, kicking back for a steady aim. Her foot collided, and she felt the synthrodrone fall back.

But not far enough. Kim felt her leg catch.

Instantly she was down, synthodrone arms that looked way too much like her own wrapped around her.

Why couldn't she be this buff? The grip was impossible to break against. She was now being dragged across the floor to...

The janitor's closet.

"Now you're going to actually stay somewhere for once," the synthodrone said.

* * *

Kim had smacked him. Unbelievably, she had smacked him. Ron leaned against the wall, still gingerly touching his face. What had he said that was so wrong? It really wasn't rebound from a stupid synthodrone named Erik, was it? Because that just wasn't fair. And he had thought his answer had been pretty good. So he didn't have some Hollywood guy writing lines for him, but it was still good. If she really liked him, then that shouldn't have mattered.

And they had been doing enough kissing, anyway.

And how had she managed to change back into that suit so fast?

"Ron?"

Oh, no. She was back. He jumped to his feet. He was not going to let her see that she had actually managed to injure him.

She stood in the hallway, breathing heavily. Her hair was a complete mess. Well, it had been when she had slapped him, so... "You changed clothes again," he said dumbly.

"Yeah." She darted over the hall and threw her arms around him.

"Oh? So now I get a hug?"

"What? Oh, I understand."

"Understand what? Kim, you slapped me!"

She shook her head. "No, that wasn't me. I just found this out, Ron. We have to be really careful. Someone... I think Drakken, I don't know... someone's made a copy of me."

Whoa. That did explain a lot.

* * *

**BabyMama9672: **Well, Ron sort of found out the truth...

**BlinknSkater:** Stupid official site. Oh well. Thanks for the correction! )

**ChemicalHappiness:** Well, Ron doesn't quite know yet... I think I'll let him keep his hopes up for awhile longer.

**Drakken's Woman:** Of course 993 has a personality! Synthodrones also have feelings. Shall work on last part. How was Loll?

**Forlong:** Thank-yee!

**G-Go: **I'm pretty sure the Possible parents slipped the tweebs a few bucks to clean up everything. )

**Iron G: **Yay! I has a cookie! Thank-yee!

**kemiztri: **Thanks so much! Eh, I figure it's an extreme show already... I might as well take advantage of it in fanfiction. But let me know if it goes way over the top.

**KimnRon4ever:** Thanks!

**kpShadowGirl:** The fact is... Ron is delightful to torture! And I much agree with your analysis of synthodrool.

**Lonestarr: **Yeah, it is kind of a scary idea to work with.

**The Mad Shoe:** Thanks!

**MtnRon**: Dads are weird that way. Mr. P even admitted knowing that Erik was destroyed.

**Netherwood:** To make up for your moan of pain, I promise much more K/Rness! With the REAL Kim!

**Vbabe24: **But awkward is fun!

**Widow Shark: **My sister also thought it was a one-shot. But there's too much fun I can have.

**willk1989:** We were actually thinking Kim was a bit too violent at the end of STD... so we're giving her a break out of that. )

**WWLAOS**: I am free from Camp Wannaweep! Actually, it was most lovely. Stupid Scouts. Anyway, I thought to myself, If I were a synthodrone, and I ran into Ron Stoppable, wouldn't I join his side?


	4. Kimmunication

"The kimmunicator," Kim continued, entering into that usual grip of panic that went over her at times—Ron had never really known what to do in those situations. "The kimmunicator, Ron. I need it. Wade really has to know about this."

Ron blinked. He had no idea where the kimmunicator was. It didn't belong to him. Or maybe he did know where it was… this latest news had rather thrown him off. "Uh, Kim? Isn't that your responsibility?"

She blinked, green eyes rather dazed. "Is it? Oh, Ron. I feel so stupid, I'm having the most random day ever. Kimmunicator, kimmunicator. I was sure I grabbed it this morning!"

"Sometimes you keep it in your bag…"

"Backpack!" She darted over to where it leaned against the wall.

She really was out of it. It must have something to do with him. Oh, yes, that was a nice thought. He was indeed the Ron-man. He made the ladies fall to their knees. Why wouldn't it be unreasonable that Kim wouldn't get a little dilarious?

Because she was Kim. Kim wasn't like that.

Somewhere in his brain came the beginnings of the tiniest thought, one that proceeded to jump forth—not very far. So there was some sort of copy of Kim out there. And he had just kissed it. His own words from last night, directed towards Kim: "You kissed a synthodrone?" This Kim, this impossibly gorgeous Kim Possible right here, there wasn't some weird movie kind of twist that this was indeed the clone? That was a creepy thought.

But no… this was the Kim from last night.

Unless…

She was skipping back, kimmunicator in hand. "Now I promise I remember how to use this!" She set to slamming buttons.

Ron stared. Well, the thought had vanished, at least. "Uh, Kim? That button?"

"Oh. Duh. See, I really am out of the loop."

He had to admit, it was rather funny to see her this way. Cute, really. Was this how all couples felt about each other? "Well, someone made a clone out of you."

"Synthodrone, actually," Kim replied. "Which makes it all the creepier. I mean, synthodrones are impressive beings…."

The miniature screen of the kimmunicator wavered, then opened into view. Wade's face appeared. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "For crying out loud, guys, it's a Saturday!"

"And an emergency," Kim said. "We have a definite sitch."

"Not another disaster at the prom?"

Ron laughed—and earned an elbow from Kim. "Something else."

"But the prom was fantast—" Ron began. Another elbow.

"Ron, really," she hissed.

She didn't care about announcing their new-found relationship? "But I want to freak Wade out with this!"

That almost woke Wade up. "Freak me out with what?"

"Well, last night," Ron tried again.

Kim wasn't allowing for it. Yanking the kimmunicator from Ron's view, she interrupted with the new news. "Wade, I think Dr. Drakken made a synthodrone copy of me."

Now Wade was really awake. "He made what?"

"A synthodrone," she repeated. "Like Erik."

"Erik was a synthodrone? A robot?" Wade looked almost sick. "You mean you kissed a—"

"I didn't kiss him!" she shrieked. "We never bothered to get back in touch with you, but Erik turned out to be an evil robot created by Drakken to capture me."

Wade stared. "Oh… so…"

Kim nodded. "He's made another one. Could you… watch out for that? It's really weird, and we've already had a run-in with the thing."

"Sure thing. In fact, I have to way to scan for that sort of disaster. If I had known I would have used it against Erik."

That would have been something to know, Ron thought. A week of jealousy could have easily been saved. He watched Kim, waiting for her reaction. It most likely would have saved her a lot of pain, as well.

It wasn't quite what he expected. The hand holding the kimmunicator shook, and her face paled. "You have a way to do that?"

"Yeah. Bio scans. Very simple."

"Gotta go, Wade, bye." She shut off communication.

"Rude enough?" Ron asked.

She took a deep breath, color rushing back into her face. "Look, I'm just very stressed. And if I had known about that scan, I would have asked him to use it on Erik."

Just as he had been thinking. Except… "How often do you ask Wade to perform scans on guys you like?"

"Not enough, apparently." She returned to her bag and stuffed the kimmunicator in there like it was an object of severe embarrassment. "I need to find Drakken, Ron. He can't get away with this."

"You're not going to have him scan me, are you?"

She stared at him a moment, just like she had before whenever he had said something dumb. He hadn't said anything dumb, had he? Oh, he was going to have Rufus give him some therapy about this later.

Then she laughed. "What for?"

"I could very well be a synthodrone!"

"Ron, you're not a synthodrone."

"And what makes you so sure?"

Another laugh as she swung the bag over her shoulder. "Trust me, I know. Now let's get out of here."

Ah, return to the lair. Not that Shego much cared. It was just another chance to investigate her wide collection of conditioners in a search for something powerful enough to combat electricity. She still couldn't believe that stupid Kim Possible synthodrone had thrown her like that… she easily could have died.

On a platform above her, Drakken was busy with yet another mechanical project that she would never care to understand. So the guy was a genius in some ways, but still a moron. A savant. Isn't that what it was called? An idiot savant.

"Isn't this wonderful, Shego?" he practically sang as he forced a screwdriver into a section of metal. "We have Kim Possible locked up, and our own Kim Possible to do our bidding! And everyone believes her to be the real thing!"

Eh, nothing was good enough—she really had to start being more snotty about her hair products. There was still the homey route, though. Maybe there was some mayonnaise in the fridge… disgusting, but nothing was better for conditioning. "Yes, Drakken, you are so wonderful. Emperor of the Universe, or whatever she called you. Do you realize that she is still down there?"

Drakken paused. "Oh. Well, we'll bring her some food later."

"Or leave her to die."

"Yes. Yes. I'll leave her to die in that basement. A brilliant plan. After all these times I've tried to kill her and failed."

Shego highly doubted Kim Possible would die. Not if Drakken had anything to do with it. He was far too soft-hearted, no matter what he said about herself. She'd have to go down there and finish Kimmie off herself. Leaving them to die just wasn't her style. That is, she'd go and finish Kim off if Kim hadn't escaped yet. Shego had to hand it to the girl—she was brilliant.

She hadn't intended those laser ropes to hold for days, anyway. She hadn't intended to be arrested, either.

"There's also the little problem of the rest of the team," Shego said.

"The buffoon will believe anything."

"What about the computer kid? Wade?" Shego hadn't planned to think over the matter this much. "Won't he figure something out?"

For a long time Drakken said nothing. "Dang! I forgot about that."

Of course he had.

"Well, Shego, we'll just have to do something about that."

She stared up at him. "Oh? And exactly what do you propose?"

More silence.

She sighed. "I thought so. At least let me fix my hair first."

Never again would Kim mock the abilities of a janitor. Or a locksmith. Thank goodness she always kept a hairpin. She finally collapsed into the hallway, covered in spilt cleaner and a mop at her side.

A synthodrone, she thought. This was beyond real. And it had Ron believing it was her. And it had led Ron into believing that… she liked him.

She stood up, suddenly transfixed at the idea. Why had that happened?

Ron had been acting so weird ever since Erik had entered their lives… jealous. If she had paused for just one moment to consider it, she would have realized… no, Ron certainly did not feel that way about her. He just wanted their friendship, and Erik had been in the way of that. Pity that Erik had turned out to be so awful. A synthodrone.

She really was not liking synthodrones.

But her synthodrone wouldn't have initiated something like that. Would it? So it must have been Ron…

Did that mean that Ron… liked her that way? After so many years of friendship, everything her mom had been hinting was true? He liked her that way? Even after that moodulator incident in which, if her memory served her correctly, he had flat-out refused to play along as her boyfriend even as she was throwing herself at him? That couldn't be right.

The mop rolled at her feet, snatching her back to reality. Here she was, filthy, tired, confused… and thinking about boys. How pathetic and so-not-cool was this?

"Focus, Kim," she announced so loud her voice echoed through the hall. "Focus on the now!"

She'd worry about Ron later. Right now, she just had to get him away from that synthodrone.

And first off… Wade. He could scan the school. He had to have some way of searching for robots. She marched to her locker and flung it open. A few taps of the computer and she had Wade.

And he was looking more confused than she felt.

"You're back," he said slowly. "And you… changed into some costume. Hang on a moment…"

A green ray shot from the computer and scanned over Kim.

"Wade, I really need to talk to you, so what was that for?"

The confusion had grown. "Kim. It is you."

"Of course it's me…" Oh. "Wade, you've heard about the synthodrone of me?"

He opened his mouth to answer.

"Because I've had a very rotten past few hours. I was captured last night and woke up in this fake suit that you certainly did not make for me and Ron was gone and I finally escape to locate Ron and have him do nothing but kiss me and then I find this crazy copy of me that can fight so much better than I can and—" It didn't take long for breathlessness to take her. Finally, someone sane to talk to. "Sorry. You were saying something that I probably could understand?"

"Ron kissed you?" Wade repeated, stunned. "Ron kissed you? Again? You exchanged saliva?" He shuddered. "That's disgusting!"

"Grow up and focus," she hissed.

"But you're the real Kim," he continued, shock giving way to excitement. "I know, I just scanned you, and you are 100 biological."

"Of course I am." She felt like crying for joy. "Thank-you, thank-you, Wade, for having some idea of what is going on! The synthodrone must have asked you to make scans already, and you thought that was me."

"Guilty," he replied. "Except… she didn't ask me to make scans. I volunteered to do that and she freaked. I guess something was up." He shook his head. "This is supposed to be a relaxing Saturday, Kim."

"Tell me about it," she muttered. "And I missed my own prom." Had Ron and the synthodrone… gone? But it wasn't time to think about that. "We need to save Ron from that thing; I have no idea what it could be up to."

"Got it. I guess I can try the kimmunicator, but I don't think she'll answer."

"'It', Wade. That thing is not a she."

"But Drakken must have done a really good job if Ron thought it was you…" He shuddered again. "Ron kissed you?"

She sighed. "Wade."

"Sorry! That's just really wrong. And…" he frowned. "I'm getting an incoming message."

Not a mission, she prayed. Not right now.

"It's from…" Wade frowned. "Shego."


	5. Pairing Off

"Shego," Kim repeated. Since when did Shego come through this line? Only in the case of pending disaster or… did she have any idea of this synthodrone incident? Of course she did, it was probably her idea. Kim closed her eyes and drew a breath. Oh, but wouldn't she kill for a shower and a nap right about now. Saving the world was getting despicably tiring. "Put her through."

Still muttering something about 'smacked lips', Wade pressed a few keys and the computer's transmission was switched. Shego's face sneered through the screen—not that the sneer lasted long. A few stunned blinks and a cough was all it took. "Kim."

"Shego." This so was not the time. "Nice of you to call. Come to check up on your latest project?"

"I tied you up!" Shego shook her head slowly and sighed. "Drakken. I warned him we should have killed you immediately, but no, he wanted to concentrate on world conquest! Oh, well, I still should have gone right in. Boy, but I really need to work on my self-motivation." Her green-gloved hand squeezed a fist as she gave another deep sigh. "Good thing these sorts of problems can be solved instantly. Where are you at?" Eyes circled over the screen. "The high school. On a Saturday. Little Miss 4.0. I should have expected as much."

"Of course you don't count on me sitting around waiting for you," Kim replied. The locker door swung briefly in her hand. She should just shut the darn thing.

"Nah. I hate to admit it, but I half-guessed you'd find yet another way to weasel out. Ah, well. Till next time."

"Exactly why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be after your precious robot?"

Shego fingered a strand of hair, pulling it up to her face for scrutiny. "Actually I wasn't calling you. I was trying to get a hold of your little computer genius friend, but you all decide to send me right on through to you. Which is very annoying when you're trying to fly a ship and all you want is some good service, but I expect teen heroes don't have that sort of respect. But it seems there is no longer any point talking to him anymore considering he apparently already knows that you are the real Kim." She rolled her eyes.

Shego didn't appear to be very much into this mission. Kim released the locker door. "I take it you recognized a cheap costume."

Shego grinned and flicked the hair strand back. "Duh. Considering I went through all the effort of forcing Drakken's lazy tailors to stitch it together under a quarter of an hour I had better recognize what I put on you. Hideous, ain't it? Just like the original. I swear, I'm not really understanding how Drakken's new pet managed to put up with it. Tough thing, though. Of course, you didn't have to battle against Princess Synthodrone and get knocked into a transformer. So maybe it would be good for Halloween. Though I still prefer going as Glinda."

This was odd. Shego, for once, wouldn't shut up and get on with whatever she was planning. "You're stalling. Is that all you called me up about?"

"Yeah, pretty much. And I'm glad you caught the stalling." Shego switched a key on her dashboard to autopilot. "I really did call up your technology guy to maybe throw a bug into his system even though Drakken refuses to invest in proper equipment that doesn't attach an identity to everything you send out. But apparently he already knows about you and that stupid synthodrone."

"Stupid synthodrone?"

"Do you have any idea about what went on last night?"

She had to be kidding. Kim fought the impulse to swear at her. "No, because you and Synthodrone 901 Erik the Fake decided to tie me up in a basement. Good ties, though. I was actually impressed this time." No, she couldn't be rude. This was information time. Hopefully this wasn't all some distraction to send Wade a virus. Well, she would let him worry about that. "So tell me what happened."

Shego pretended to consider something. "Well, we shipped a synthodrone, a rather cute one, I might add, to you for an instant prom date, yay for us. Then Drakken does his pathetic Bueno Nacho disaster bit, your sidekick guy shows up, yadda yadda, we pretend to kidnap 'Erik the Fake'. Oh, and we capture you and switch you with another synthodrone that looks just like you. She gets tied up with your sidekick friend, he thinks she's you, in case you haven't noticed. The two of you escape, and then—" She paused for breath. "Then Drakken's brilliant creation goes completely short circuit on us!"

This was new. Kim's eyes widened. "Short circuit?"

"Uh-huh. The idea is that she would capture the rest of your gang, rally some unknowing law enforcers to our side, and definitely not attack me! She tries to electrocute me, we wind up in prison, and she skips off just like you."

"But you broke out of prison."

Shego nodded. "Glad you noticed. She decided to repent. Drakken completely adores her, but I'm thinking something is not right."

"Then why are you talking to me?"

"I think I already told that story. Kim, I spent all morning trying to be all calm and collected and blasé about this, but that robot is not obeying orders and I am sick of it."

The locker door was back in Kim's hand. "And what do you want me to do about it? She has my best friend thinking who-knows-what, she's already tossed me into the janitor's closet. She's good." Toss in the diplomatic compliment. "Hey, she beat you."

"I noticed. So, since you 'can do anything' and all," Shego even bothered with the finger quotes. "I thought you might be interested in bringing her in with me."

Silence hung for several horribly long moments as Kim stared at the screen. "What?"

Shego sighed and blatantly avoided eye contact. "She is quickly becoming another classic Drakken mistake, and I want her stopped before she really thinks she's you and really ruins my life. Yes, Kim, I'm hiring you for a mission."

Somewhere below hell freezed over. "And why should I trust you?"

"Kimmie, there's another Kim Possible out there running around with your sidekick. You, on the other hand, need some serious mayonnaise conditioning and a make-over. As usual. Even if you get other people besides Computer Whiz Boy to believe you're you, how long is that going to last before they confuse a synthodrone with you?" Shego's face broke into a nasty grin. "I'm one of the few you can trust."

She was sort of making sense, Kim thought. "And you won't be confused?"

"Please." Shego held up a small remote. "I can find her anywhere."

* * *

The sunshine was incredible. 993 threw her head back and breathed in the air. Well, pretended to breathe it in. Sometimes this personality detail chips could be quite enjoyable. "Ron, this is a wonderful day!"

Ron drew a breath and immediately began coughing. "Eh, yeah. But I think a car backfired somewhere nearby. That guy over there." He pointed down the street to where some college student was having serious car trouble.

"But that's a marvelous smell." Somewhere inside of her a program kicked into gear. No, Kim Possible did not think random automobile fumes were worthy scents. She laughed. "I'm kidding."

Ron also laughed, shrugging. "Eh, it's better than when the catalytic converter is seriously not working and the emissions government people are probably tracking them down somewhere."

993 liked that smell, too. "So, we're agreed that we don't like those smells?"

"Right-a-mundo, babe."

993 giggled. "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever call me 'babe' again." Kim Possible programming was reacting against that as well. Though she didn't understand how Drakken drudged up that information. Maybe it was her who wasn't liking that word. Oh, but that was a nice feeling to have an opinion.

"Then what am I suppose to call you now that we're a couple?" Ron paused on the sidewalk. "Honey? Dear? Those are icky!"

"Hmm." This was something she would have to think about. "How 'bout 'Kim' and "K.P." for now and I'll get back to you on the pet names later?"

He nodded, though she couldn't help but notice he looked a little disappointed.

Kimmie, she thought. Kimmie would be wonderful. "You can call me Kimmie."

"But that's what your parents call you!"

No wonder the word had seemed familiar. "So?"

"Kim, that's just weird." He nodded. "Yes, I'm definitely sticking with the K.P. I like that name. I invented it."

"You did?"

"Yes. Back in 5th grade, I think. Dang, but that was a good year." He sighed happily. "You know, I think I like you this way."

993 nearly tripped over the curb. "You do? What way?"

"Normally right now you'd probably be demanding that we hurry up and get to our houses and change into mission clothes and all that boring stuff, but right now you're just relaxing. It's nicer."

She blushed. Yes, Kim Possible programming was sending some signals about the 'hurry up' factor, but this… this was what she liked. Oh, something was seriously wrong with her. But forget Drakken. "But we are on our ways to change into mission clothes."

"Yes, but we're doing it much slower!"

She laughed again. "I wasn't aware there was such a difference." She stopped in front of her house. "This is my place."

Ron nodded, almost fearfully. "Uh, yeah."

"Are you afraid of my dad trying to kill you?"

He nodded again, with definite fear. "As a matter of fact, I am! Your dad doesn't like boys."

"True." She darted over the lawn, hoping he'd chase her. "Isn't it great? You finally have a reputation with my father!"

He finally did put forth some sort of chase, slowly dragging his feet over the lawn. "But last time he promised to send me into a black hole!"

She paused, hand on the door. "He did? When?"

"Middleton Days." A long pause followed. "During the moodulator incident."

Moodulator incident. 993 squeezed the doorknob. There wasn't a history for that. "Oh, yeah." She pushed the door open.

He jumped through after her, suddenly a lot more interested in staying in proximity. "Hey, Kim, how come we never talk about that?"

Moodulator incident, moodulator incident. What was she supposed to say? "It was pretty freaky, wasn't it?"

"But you—" He didn't get a chance to finish.

As if a barrier of invisibility had been slammed in the middle of the room, her parents appeared. Kim Possible's parents. Her mother was grinning as if she had won the lottery and her father was glaring. She was fairly certain that was a knife poking out of his fist.

"Dad!" she cried, pointing at the knife.

His other hand appeared with a half-peeled apple. "Don't worry, I am over the original… fury."

"Original unwarranted fury," her mother corrected.

He sighed. "Unwarranted fury lacking both evidence and reason. Thank-you, honey."

Her mother laughed and winked secretly at 993. "Don't worry, he's under control. Now he's just helping me make apple pie. I've decided to try a few homey meals. And I'm sure your new boyfriend would just love to try it once I'm done. If Jim and Tim don't blow the whole thing up." She shook her head.

Ron forced a smile. "I wouldn't call myself a 'boyfriend' yet, Mrs. P."

The apple fell from her father's hand. "You didn't go out and get married, did you! Because I still have a black hole-worthy rocket in the attic!"

"Yet, dear. He said 'yet'. They're not married." Her mother laughed and picked up the apple. "Though I suppose it's never too early to start planning things. Ron, I was on the phone with your mother all morning and we think the Middleton Country Club would be the perfect place for a wedding if we can just get a membership there."

Ron gave a choked moan and even 993 felt her circuits were giving out.

Another laugh. "I'm kidding! Oh, I shouldn't have told you that. I really did chat with your mom and she was supposed to continue on with the joke."

"There's nothing funny about weddings," her father muttered.

"Ignore him, kids. Though maybe I shouldn't call you kids anymore. So, how was your date this morning?"

Ron was still rendered speechless.

993 forced a smile. "It was fine, Mom. It was so much fun."

"Good! Then we should all relax and go through scrapbooks!" Her mother shot over the living room to a bookshelf. "It's the perfect time to get more acquainted with your girlfriend's baby pictures!"

This couldn't go well. "Mom!"

993 was programmed to be tough, but even she couldn't foresee the shock of the mother of the real Kim Possible dragging her and Ron over the carpet and practically throwing them onto a couch and sinking in between them with three lacy books. "Here's Kimmie on the day she was born. In fact, the next twenty pages are devoted to that day, all credit to your father. Too bad in classic birth order cases parents stop caring with later children, though we have some adorable photos of the twins if you want to look at those next…"

At least it was good for history. 993 stared at each page of photos, wondering what in the world she could learn from these. If she was going to be Kim Possible and have Ron believe her as such, she had to know. As it was, he seemed more familiar with the photos than she was. He would occasionally laugh and make some reminiscent comment about the photo. And all she could do was sit back, smile, and nod like she remembered.

"And this one!" Her mother pointed at a photo of a seven-year old Kim Possible dressed in a pink cheerleading uniform with pom-poms almost the size of her body. "Your first experience with cheerleading. Li'l Middleton Maids was the name of that program. They let you all perform at a Middleton High homecoming game back then. It was so adorable."

"You were at a football game before high school, Kim?" Ron asked, surprisingly entertained. "Dang, but that uniform is so… maybe I shouldn't say. But what was that like?"

"Um…" A question expecting a response. "Um…"

Her mother flipped a few pages ahead. "And here's this one. You brought this one home. A slumber party of a friend. Who was that? You still talk about that slumber party, and you were ten at the time. Oh, Kimmie, refresh my memory."

993 had no idea. At least she had some names and faces. "Monique's. It was Monique's party."

"Monique didn't move here until last year," Ron said.

"It was another Monique." Good save, if she did say so herself.

Ron didn't seem to accept that. "Are you feeling okay?"

A knock sounded at the door. Please let it not be anyone she was expected to know.

The door flew open. Speak of the devil codes. It was Monique.

"Hey girl!" Monique screamed as she darted into the room. "Good to see you looking decent. Now we must talk. I don't care if you're on a date; I need to know every little thing you dare tell me!" She leaped over to the couch and pulled Kim to her feet in a very Mrs. Possible fashion. "Y'all don't mind if I borrow her for an hour, do you?"

"But Drakken—" 993 began.

But Ron and her mother were already shaking their heads.

"I've spent the morning and last night with her," Ron said. "So you two can go off and gossip about me because I know that is what girls do! Kim, we can worry about the new Drakken clone problem later."

993 was dragged out the door.


	6. Nacos

This wasn't happening. 993 had been programmed with all the best of Kim Possible-styled fighting technology. And that wasn't all. Extra speed, extra strength, extra agility… they all were supposedly wired through all her innards. So, logically, something must have been blocking them. For there was no other explanation how another teenager girl, not even athletic at that, could bodily take her. But Monique did. Her arm linked through 993's she was out of the house and skipping down the Possible's lawn.

"Man, oh man," Monique was saying during all of this as if she had no idea that she was with a synthodrone—which she wasn't actually supposed to know, so technically that was all right. "Girl, I am still flipping over this! Do you have any idea how romantic comedy to watch last night was? You and your Ron, showing up like that out of the blue at the prom!" With a breathy sigh she released 993 and spun in a circle.

Perhaps this would be the time to run. 993 instinctively rubbed her arm where Monique had so ecstatically squeezed. No, this was fine. The real Kim would certainly be a while in catching up. And Monique… she recognized this. Dr. Drakken had done his homework on Kim Possible, and this Monique was in there. One of Kim's best friends. And gossiping about private affairs was something best friends did. And gossiping was something Kim Possible would be thrilled to do. The panic signals began to subside, and she smiled. Monique was still marching down the sidewalk, chattering incomprehensibly in a series of acronyms—it wasn't hard to catch up. Yes, this was fine. Perfectly fine. Right in with the Kim Possible posing Drakken had ordered her to put up. The Emperor of the Universe hadn't given anymore commands yet. "Were we really that cute?"

"My dearest Kim." Monique paused at a curb, one foot in the street, watching a yellow car blaring rap drive by. "My, my, but that is one fine car."

"Car?" 993's eyes followed the car. "Is that it? Now you're saying a car is cute? What about me and Ron?"

The coast was clear. Monique continued across the street. "Hey, give this woman the time to appreciate a quality automobile. Even though the drive had to be at least forty and has no kind of midlife crisis excuse to explain his ownership of the vehicle. My car is out for the count, so I need the time." Another well-earned sigh. "You and Ron, now. Is that what you want to talk about? Yes, Kim, you too are adorable! I can't believe I never even thought of it until now!" She closed a fist and drove it into the air. "Where am I lacking in my B.F.F. duties? If I had had some freaky vision of the future I would have so been playing Cupid months ago. Years ago. The moment I moved to Middleton and saw you two."

"So Ron and I have always been good friends?"

"Very good friends. Not that you didn't have the whole playful abuse thing going on, but that works with guys of his mental capacity." She giggled. "No offense."

Ron. 993 resisted her own urge to spin in an over-dramatic circle. Yes, Ron certainly was wonderful. So, so wonderful. And she was so, so grateful to Drakken for creating her and making her pose in Kim's place. This was a short circuit she did not want fixed. "None taken. Monique, last night was so unbelievable."

Monique's eyes widened as she almost tripped over another curve. "Whoa. I almost forgot I organized this whole little arrangement for you to do the talking and give me all sorts of juicy details that we might bond in female mutual understanding."

"Where did you get that kind of vocab?"

"Talk shows. Really, who needs school when you have talk shows? They teach you everything practical in the real world. But unfortunately I must attend if I wish to fulfill my dream of becoming the first fashion designer with a Ph.D. Okay, continue."

Focus on Ron, focus on Ron. It was not a difficult thing to do. "Well, you saw the fight on the news, didn't you?"

They had left suburbia. The odds and ends of minor shopping areas were popping out of the sidewalks. "When would I ever miss one of your escapades? At least the ones I'm in the area to watch. Yeah, we saw the whole thing on the janitor's portable tv. Don't ask me what he was doing at the prom." Monique put a hand to her stomach. "Dang, but I am starving! Wanna stop at Bueno Nacho?"

Bueno Nacho. Mm. Everything in 993 was telling her that Bueno Nacho was supposed to be delicious. "You read my mind. I didn't even eat breakfast."

Monique gave the most evil of sneers. "That's because you were busy. Race you inside."

A fast-food restaurant topped with a giant fake sombrero. Well, if Kim Possible liked the place… 993 broke into a run and tore effortlessly past Monique. The glass door barely stopped her as she ran inside. "I win!"

Monique appeared about ten seconds later, panting hard and looking rather skeptical. "You really are hungry, ain't you?"

"I'm in love. Love gives one an appetite."

An auburn-haired boy at the counter merely scowled and twiddled with a very bad clip-on tie. "I hate love. Love stinks. "

993 stared. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, my girlfriend Ariel, or shall I say 'ex-girlfriend' ditched me last night to go the prom with somebody from the drama club."

"That's a pity, Ned," Monique said in a terrible effort not to smile. "I think I saw her. She was with Kenneth? Wasn't he the lead in the production of _Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat_? Because he is one attractive bit of wow. I salute her."

The scowl deepened. "You want to order already?"

"Hang on two seconds for me to decide. You know, didn't you go on precisely one date with Ariel anyway, Ned?"

"One and a half. Her canary got hit by a car in the middle of the second one."

That time 993 couldn't even think about not laughing. Even Monique stared in surprise. "Oops. Sorry. Thinking about something else." She focused on the glowing menu above her—and failed to recognize a single word. What was this stuff?

"I'll have the chicken tortilla salad with extra chili and a small drink," Monique said finally. "And Kim…" Another smile. "Let me guess, you will be having the naco meal in honor of your Ron."

"Now that they finally brought the naco back. You girls wouldn't believe what a nightmare we've been through with those stupid Li'l Diablos attacking last night. At least it's good for business. Apparently people like food that tries to kill them." There was a pause, and Ned's face paled even further. "She's dating Ron Stoppable?"

"Yes, she is!" Monique squealed. "It's so about time. They walked into the prom last night holding hands and it was just utterly romantic."

Ned still didn't look particularly impressed. "Well, one naco meal on it's way."

"My treat," Monique said, ripping out her wallet. "Just got paid today…"

993 realized that she probably would have taken the food and ran. "So shall we sit down? I need to tell you about how cute Ron was last night."

"Food first. I like to watch them make it. But tell me everything you want."

Ron. Oh, but she loved the name! "Well, he stood against Drakken. It was so adorable. And he helped me fight. And the police came and hauled Drakken and Shego off—after I flung her into a shower of electricity, of course." She was getting far too ahead of herself. Chronological meters were tingling. "Actually, when Erik showed himself to be a synthodrone—"

That caught Monique's attention. "Say what? Syntha-thing?"

Oh, boy. "A synthodrone, Monique. That's what Erik was. A synthodrone, a highly-developed system based on memory waves in a gelatinous—" Monique was still staring. Glitches, 993 thought. Kim Possible wouldn't understand that gibberish anymore than anyone else on earth would. "He was this freaky robot thing, can you believe it?"

Monique ventured a laugh and grabbed a straw for her soda. "Well, he was dang cute freaky robot thing. I heard on the news he was one bad boy, but I didn't realize it went that far." She suddenly gasped. "Oh my gosh, Kim, you didn't kiss him, did you?"

993 shook her head. "Never got the opportunity, thank goodness."

"No thank goodness that I keep interrupting! Keep going."

Keep going. That was easy enough. 993 could still see the entire scene in her memory like one extra-long movie. Romantic comedy movie, just like Monique had said. She smiled and flicked back her hair. Story-telling mood, story-telling mood. She could live off this for a long time. No wonder Kim liked so much to gossip. "Well, Erik goes all huggy-lovey on me and I, like a moron, run into his arms. Then he goes off and reveals himself as this evil synthodrone working for Dr. Drakken, shocks me, and I'm off unconscious. And when I wake up…" She let her smile widen. This was the best part, she realized now that she was looking back. Maybe she had felt something for Ron Stoppable even at this time, something other than a pawn in the deception. "When I wake up, I'm tied up in Bueno Nacho storage on a plaster decoration, and not far from me is Ron. He's still unconscious, but he looked so adorable. If you can believe that."

Monique laughed again. "I can't, but he's your man. Believe whatever you want, girl."

"Fair enough. So at first I'm just kicking myself over Erik and wondering why I hadn't seen him for the slime ball he really is. Then Ron finally wakes up and says something about heaven—I like to pretend he was referring to me. And, Monique, you'll kill me for this! I go on and on about Erik! Ron's right there and I go on about pond scum like one of those bimbos I hate so much. And, well… he comforted me, Monique. He told me that there are plenty of guys who would love to go out with me. And he pretty much referred to himself after that, but not specifically because Rufus interrupted us but… that was it, Monique. I knew at that very moment that he could very well be something other than just a best friend." She sighed. "Please don't tell me I'm still reeling from Erik. Please don't."

"I also learned from talk shows that best friends make the best relationships."

993 felt the color sensor red race to her face. "Really? Thanks."

"You are totally welcome. Then what happened after you duked it out with Drakken and Shego?"

That part had been fun. Though it was a good thing Dr. Drakken Emperor of the Universe and Shego weren't too upset. "Well, Erik wound up being destroyed. That was disgusting. Are you aware that synthodrones are full of this awful green goo?"

Monique made a face.

993 almost felt offended. And humans were proud of their blood and guts innards? "Well, the cops showed up, like I told you. And… well, I felt it was right. I took Ron's hand and we left the scene. And I was about to tell him he had to come to the prom with me, but then he asked me. It was really cute. He just went all determined and demanded I go to the prom with him. Though I suppose I wouldn't say 'demanded', but he said that I no longer had a date and that he would be mine."

"Oh, wow." Monique's eyes fluttered. "I am so loving this story."

"Orders are up," Ned said bitterly. He set before them a hideous red tray set with the strangest food 993 had ever seen in her short existence. Her Kim Possible programming was recognizing them, of course, but still…. "Are these good?"

"The nacos?" Ned frowned. "I don't like them myself, but a lot of people do. And I thought you have had them before. You order them all the time."

"Then I must like them. I just assumed you should have them…" How could she save this? "Better than usual. Because, Ned, I'm in love."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Have a Bueno day."

Monique led them to a booth. "You know, Kim, you are acting utterly strange today. Really strange."

Uh oh. "I am?"

She shrugged, sat down, and stabbed a fork into her salad. "Yes. But what do I know about being in love? I've never had a serious boyfriend. I envy you. But I love this salad. Though I still feel supreme guilt about ordering salad from fast-food joints. So, is your naco 'better' today?"

The naco. 993 stared down at it, recalling some big thing about discontinuing the naco only a week before. Drakken's idea, of course. And she had never even tried it. And it was not calling upon her to try it. But Kim Possible liked it, and Ron liked it… she plunged in a fork, brought a chunk of tortilla, grease, and cheese to her mouth, and bit.

She was going to throw it all back up. Quickly she grabbed a napkin and spit the unpleasant mouthful into that. Now the napkin had to be burned. "Yuck! That's disgusting!"

Monique blinked, a piece of lettuce stuck on her lip. "I take it it's not better."

No, it was not better. How dare biological humans create such monstrosities. 993 shoved her tray away. Too far. It tumbled to the floor, hamburger, beans, and lettuce flying every which way. "Monique, have you tried this so-called wonderful naco?"

"Kim, I take the romance thing back," Monique said in a low voice. "You are not feeling well right now."

"Well?" 993 jumped to the seat. "Well? I'm feeling wonderful. I'm feeling so wonderful that I refuse to eat this. This cannot be what Ron invented. He would not create something so horrible!"

The entire restaurant was staring. 993 did not care.

Monique sunk into her seat. "Kim, you are having a psychotic episode. Completely psychotic. What exactly is wrong with you? You've always liked the food here."

"I doubt any of it is good!" 993 yelled. Oh, but she had no idea where this programming was coming from. But she liked it. She liked it very much. She was becoming so much better than Kim Possible ever was. And she would stop Ron from enjoying this sort of food. In fact, she would stop everyone from enjoying this sort of good. Because no one in their right mind ever would. "Mexican food was never, ever meant to be on the lists of fast-food joints! Never! It's an affront to all that is natural! In fact, half this stuff on that menu has never even been heard of in any respectable Mexican community. This place is offensive to the fine cuisines of the Mexican nation and culture!"

"For crying out loud, sit down!"

"No!" 993 reached down for her plastic fork. One more problem in her system. Almost as good as the Ron problem. She held the fork high, knowing plain well the entire restaurant good see it. That is what she intended. "Patrons of Bueno Nacho, we must unite! We should not be forced to eat fake, greasy Mexican food! It's just wrong in so many ways!"

There was a pause, and one of the workers started a low clap. Then another voice. "Oh, shut up and just see if you can't get a refund."

Some college girl in the corner. 993 jabbed the fork in her direction. "What is your name?"

The girl glared. "Trish."

"Well, Trish, you have officially been deluded by American culture! Have you ever had real Mexican food?"

"Yes. But who cares? It's good!"

"You are so going down, Trish."

Trish jumped to her feet. "Bring it on!"

993 was only somewhat aware of Monique making a mad dash back to the counter. She jumped to the floor, arms forward and ready to fight if that's what this girl intended.

"I don't care if you are the great Kim Possible," Trish snarled. "I spend my summers working hard outdoors and I can so take you." She ran forward.

"I don't think so!" 993 rushed to meet her.

A dark figured jumped in the path. Both 993 and Trish screamed.

It was Monique, wielding a very heavy box fryer tong. "I have the manager's permission to use this without even having to sign a waver and I am prepared to use it."

Trish leaped back. "You are both nuts."

"Yeah, uh huh. Kim, you are coming with me and we are going to get you some help."

"But she wouldn't—" 993 didn't have an opportunity to continue her discussion of the revolution. She started forward again, only to run smack into Monique and her knife. "But she—"

Trish had already returned, exasperated and muttering about the insane, to her food.

"Let it go, supergirl," Monique hissed. "Let it go." She proceeded to once more drag 993 outside, tossing the tongs on the counter as she did. "Those were the sharpest tongs they have and now I have guilt about wielding those like Xena."

993 sucked in the air outside. Wow. Her energy was still refusing to drain back. "Monique, that food was disgusting and that girl wouldn't agree with me. I had to do something."

"You did plenty. There is something wrong with you. This is not normal twitterpation from what I know of the subject. You are not normal."

"Normal?" 993 froze. This was ridiculous. She was not standing outside a Bueno Nacho with Kim Possible's friend and having this friend getting suspicious. "And how would you define 'normal', then?"

"Not igniting a fast-food feud, for one thing." Monique continued to drag 993 to a nearby picnic table. "That's just not something you normally do."

No, that was not a Kim Possible thing to do. 993 forced a laugh. "I guess I really am out of it. Thanks for stopping me those tongs."

"They really are sharp. I hope I didn't bruise you or anything when you ran into me."

Bruise? 993 lifted her forearm. Oh, no. She must have ran against the tongs. Her skin had punctured and was leaking…

Monique gave a stifled scream and jumped up. "That is not normal. And that is not guacamole."

Synthogoo,

993 closed her eyes. At least she was a later model and capable of sealing herself back up. But why did it have to take so much time? All her worries about acting normal and Kim-like were drowned.

Monique was standing only a few feet away, wide-eyed and shaking. "You are not Kim. You are not Kim."

There was no getting around it.

She didn't even wait for a response. She raised one arm, pointing straight at 993. "You talked about this. Synthogoo and syntho-whatzits. You are not Kim."

993 stood up. "Just say it."

"You're a syntho-thing! Just like Erik!"

993's mouth bent upwards in a sneer. "You guessed right, Monique. You guessed right."

"Where is the real Kim?" Monique gave another tiny scream. "What did you do with her? If you don't tell me I promise I really will scream."

And she actually did get to begin a scream as 993 reached for her.

Fortunately 993 had even better shocking talent than 901.


	7. I Kissed a Synthodrone?

_Thanks so much to my readers! Sorry I'm a lazy writer!_

_**KPShadowgirl, Lonestarr, jasminevr, mattb3671, Daeron Blackoak, Blinknskater, Drakken's Woman, Ace Ian Combat, qtpie235, surforst, xPussyWillowKittenx, daywalkr82, MrDrP, the real Violet Parr.**_

_Oh, and if you have not read MrDrP's fic Kim Possible: Nacho Boy and the Dragon Lady, do so. It's a most charming of AU fics, and it's finished. Only nine chapters, so I'm not forcing you to anything lengthy._

* * *

"You know, Kim, I like your house. Nice-looking, not too horribly modern." Shego rapped a finger against the door. "Your parents have good taste."

So now Shego was an expert on architecture. Why was Kim not surprised? "Yes, well, why don't you ask to buy the deed?"

"Possible, do I look like a suburban housewife to you? Dr. Drakken may have dang awful secret lairs, but with a little ingenuity on my part I can do wonders."

Kim nodded. That was almost worth a smile. "Ah, so you're planning to have your own home design show in the future?"

Shego shrugged. "It's not such a horrible idea, is it? Now do you plan on opening the door?"

Kim turned her attention to the door, trying to avoid the consideration of whether this was a tasteful door or not. She had lived in the house her entire life, she had no right to consider its aesthetic qualities. That was harder said than done. Well, all she had to do was open it, ugly door or not. Though if Shego wanted in so desperately, why didn't she open the door? That would be a Shego thing to do. Heck, she was surprised the woman hadn't already broken down a wall in fiery glory. Now this was odd. Standing on her own doorstep, next to an enemy, wondering what her synthodrone clone was doing inside. A synthodrone had probably just slept in her bed! Oh, but life was messy. "Are you sure it's in there?"

Whatever synthodrone locating device Shego had brought along beeped defiantly in response. That had to be worth some sign. Shego frowned and flipped it between her fingers like a cigarette. "Yup. She's in there. Or was."

"Was?"

Shego sighed. "It might delay a few minutes. I had to invent the thing myself. Did it a few nights ago, when Drakken wasn't looking. Sue me for getting paranoid and not being quite the mechanical genius my stupid boss is."

"Did you just call Drakken a genius?"

"Will you open the door already?"

If it would create some sort of end to this weirdness. She grabbed the knob and pushed the door open. She could see it all now. Parents freaking out. Brothers thinking it all cool. Unless they also believed in this synthodrone as their own daughter/sister. Kim stepped into the living room.

"Kim?"

Kim almost screamed. Oh, no. Not what she needed.

It was Ron, sitting on her couch with a remote control and a... photo album. Even Ron had never been allowed to flip through those blackmail fodders. And now he was, just after kissing her... Her legs twisted weakly under her, and she grabbed the wall for support. No, no, no. She pushed herself back up. She was not going to freak. "Ron?"

"Ah, Stoppable!" Shego pushed past Kim, eyes already scanning the room for more fashion opinion, no doubt.

In a flash Ron was off the couch. "You brought Shego with you?"

Kim glanced back at Shego. Yeah, the woman did look pretty scary, and considering the number of times she had taken Ron out in a good deal of pain... "Yes, Ron, I brought Shego. Where's the synthodrone?"

"Synthodrone?" The remote dropped to the floor with a shatter. Batteries scattered. Ron grimaced. "Sorry about that. What synthodrone? You warned me about the synthodrone copy of you but..." His voice trailed off as the photo album, too, tumbled out of his arm in a hurricane of pictures and cheap scrapbook material.

"I think you're little boyfriend is about to freak," Shego said mildly. Out of the corner of her eye, Kim could see her stretching out her fingers one by one.

This was going to be a disaster. Okay, summon Ron calming techniques. "Ron, I want you take a deep breath and listen to–"

"You're the synthodrone!" Ron screamed. "You warned me about you! You told me that someone made a synthodrone of you!"

Shego just laughed.

Kim took her own deep breath. "No, I'm not the synthodrone. I'm the real Kim."

Ron shook his head. A rather frightening sneer glowed from his face. "Oh, no. I'm not that stupid, synthodrone. I am nowhere that stupid. I know exactly what you and Shego are plotting!"

"Shego and I aren't plotting anything!"

"Sure we are," Shego said in a particularly syrupy voice. "Sidekick Boy, we're looking for the real synthodrone. Your Kimmie friend is not a synthodrone. You've just been fooled. So do you want to tell us where she is?"

"Can't you just work with that tracking device?" Kim whispered, panicked.

Shego looked down at the device, still clutched in one hand. "Eh..." She tossed it over her shoulder and against a wall. "The machines are usually Drakken's line of work. My way is so much more practical."

"If you're the real Kim," Ron continued as he rolled up his sleeves. "And you and Shego aren't plotting anything, hen why did you bring her along?"

That would take an incredibly long time to explain. But apparently that was the only option. "Ron, if you would just list–"

He was not going to listen. He charged at her, arms stretched out, yelling "Die, synthodrone!"

At least it wasn't that Monkey Kung Fu. Kim closed her eyes and ducked to the side, only sticking out one leg in defense. _Sorry, Ron._

He landed with a typical Ron scream.

Somewhere upstairs Kim heard her mother say something about how dating wasn't what it used to be. Even her parents thought she was with Ron that way! She jumped to her feet, breathless, and whirled around. "Ron?"

Shego had him pinned down, one hand on his shoulder, another hand all green glowing and...

"Shego!" Kim screamed.

Shego glanced up, clearly annoyed.

It was enough time for Ron to make some attempt at freedom. He squeezed his fingers around Shego's wrist and pushed. She rolled to the side, barely missing him with her other hand.

"Okay, I am not putting up with this," she muttered. She rolled back onto Ron, who was now trying to sit up, and resumed pinning him down.

It was all Kim could do to keep herself from plopping right down and crying. This was so unfair! Instead, she summoned whatever energy was left in her and also jumped onto Ron, right between him and Shego.

"I'm telling the real Kim!" Ron shouted.

Slowly, Shego backed away. "Kimmie, you are no fun. No fun at all."

Kim sighed and eased off Ron. She had just kneed him in the stomach. "We're after the synthodrone, Shego, not Ron. Ron is only a victim here."

"You don't need to tell me that." And with that Ron threw himself back onto her.

Kim hadn't expected that. She landed back on the carpet, arms pinned down and Ron sneering down into her face. She tried to twist away, but he was not relenting. She hadn't realized how strong he was. "Ron, let me go!"

His hands pressed into her arms all the tighter. "Oh, no, synthodrone. Kim told me about what you did to her."

"Ron, I'm the real Kim!" Even she realized how pointless that statement was. Of course he thought the other was real.

Shego laughed above them. "You know, I'd never thought I'd see you two fighting again. Especially like this."

Ron nodded. "That's right, Shego! The Ron-man will fight anyone that tries to impersonate his girlfriend!"

"Girlfriend?" The word was even worse coming from his mouth. "Ron, I am not your girlfriend! We've discussed this!" There was only one thing to do. He didn't have so much power over her legs... With one quick kick of her knee...

At least it got him away from her. He fell back, moaning.

"I've got him, Possibe!" Shego shouted. She was already poised to leap onto Ron one more time.

Not again. She dove onto Ron herself. Hopefully he was still in enough pain to listen. "No, Shego, we are not killing Ron. Go look for the synthodrone or something." She turned her attention to Ron. It was easy enough to scare the boy. Just lock eyes with him without a crack of a smile. "Now, Ron, are you going to listen?"

He just glared at her.

Good enough. At least he wasn't struggling. "You've been duped, Ron. I'm the real Kim Possible. I promise. Now I really can't prove that now, but I am. The other Kim, the one from last night, was a fake. That was the synthodrone pretending to be me."

"Then why are wearing that super suit?"

"What does that have to do anything? This one's a fake, the other was the real suit that our friend Wade Load built for us. See? I even know who he is. Now are you accusing me of wearing a fake super suit or a real one?"

Ron just looked confused. Most likely he had just blurted out that accusation.

"I didn't think you had any idea." Now she herself was confused about it. Stupid super suit. "I spent the entire night locked in a basement. Got that?"

Ron managed a nod.

"Good. I have no idea what you did, but the real me, the one right here trying to keep you from doing something incredibly stupid is me. The one right here in the room. Got it?"

"No, you're a fake!" he spat. "I met you this morning. You were wearing this same super suit, and that's how I know you're a fake. Because the real Kim came and told me that she fought with you, and since she was the real Kim and said that you were the fake, you must me the synthodrone."

"Ron, that doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense, synthodrone! Because I knew it wasn't the same one from the last night, because you freaked out when I kissed you." He shuddered under her arms. "Yuck. I can't believe I kissed a synthodrone."

He was going to freak when he finally believed her. "I know! You kissed me, moron!"

"P'shah! That's what I just said, synthodrone!"

"You know, you two are really cute together," Shego said nonchalantly.

"Shut up, Shego," Kim muttered. "Ron, I hate to break it to you, but I'm the real Kim, and you kissed me, and I'm not very happy with you about it. Now I don't even want to know what happened last night with you and the synthodrone, or why that suddenly makes you in love with me. I just want you to get the facts straight!"

The look of defiance etched all over his face ebbed somewhat as the first signs of doubt crept in. But that didn't last long. "I don't believe you. I know that was the real Kim last night! I wouldn't have bore my entire soul to someone I didn't care for!"

"What?" Kim relaxed her grip. He had said something about this when he had kissed her. How deep did it go?

"That's right!" he exclaimed. "That's right! You don't even know about that! The real Kim understood! She got it! She even admitted Erik was a creep even though I had been saying that all along!"

"You said you were okay with Erik!" Of course he had obviously lied about that, she hadn't been that in lust with the synthodrone at the time.

"The real Kim didn't believe me when I told her that."

"I didn't believe you!" She closed her eyes. Oh, she could not freak out at this point. She could not. "Ron, do you even know when I was switched with the fake clone?"

"But you were never switched." He shook his head. "You, the fake Kim, came in this morning at the school, and I made the horrible and disgusting mistake of kissing you."

"I know. Ron, again, I'm the real Kim. When I ran to Erik last night, he electrocuted me or something. I woke up tied up by Shego here in a basement. So that means that whatever happened with you and this other 'Kim' did not concern me one bit." Oh, great, now she was using the finger quotes herself.

Ron just laughed. "I'm sure."

She groaned. "Okay, I'll prove it! You have a pet naked mole rat named Rufus."

"I told you earlier I left him at home."

"Okay, you want something else. Your middle name is Eustace, after your great-uncle who thinks he's the captain of the Titanic. You threw up in the first grade trying to give Tara a Valentine. You threw up in the second grade trying to give Hope a Valentine. Your favorite color is blue. Your favorite restaurant is Bueno Nacho. The volume button on the television in your bedroom actually changes the channels four stations down. You used to be afraid of mechanical horses because of a bad experience with one at the Smarty Mart when you were four. You're allergic to sandlewood incense. You have the _My Little Pony_ movie memorized because of babysitting your cousin Sariah–"

"You could have memory programs!"

"Which we did give 993," Shego said. "She probably does know half of that."

That was logical. Kim sighed. "Okay, Ron. What would prove anything to you? How can I prove to you I'm not a synthodrone?"

He considered that a moment. "Synthodrones are full of synthogoo. I saw that when Rufus bit Erik last night."

"Rufus bit Eirk?"

Ron just looked irritated. "See? The real Kim would have known that!"

"I was switched before any epic battle like that!"

"Whatever. So, Sythodrone Kim, if you are a synthodrone like I think you are, you will be full of synthogoo if I cut you."

"Ooh, violence," Shego practically sang.

That was disgusting. "I'm not cutting myself!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, if you're that afraid of proving yourself..."

Well, she had received plenty of scrapes from battle. "Shego, the knives are in the kitchen, top drawer right of the dishwasher."

Shego returned shortly with a paring knife. "You also have a really nice kitchen. Drakken refuses to invest in a kitchen. He is surprisingly cheap for a mad scientist."

"Thanks. Just give me the knife."

Instead, Shego dove forward and slashed the blade over Kim's palm.

"That's for everything you've ever done to me!"

"Ouch! Shego!" Kim squeezed her palm. She hated the way she could actually feel the blood seep out.

Shego sighed. "Relax, Possible, it wasn't deep. What do you think, sidekick?"

Kim had forgotten about Ron. He was silent. She met his eyes.

He stared up at her, face pale and eyes wide and focused on the blood trickling from her fist. "That's blood."

"He's not going to faint, is he?" Shego asked. "Because that would be really funny right now."

"Why don't you just go look for your precious robot?" Kim snapped.

"Because this is way too much fun."

"That's blood," Ron repeated. "You're bleeding. That's not synthogoo. You're really bleeding..." His voice faultered, and it was a moment before he could catch his breath. "Kim."

Kim climbed off of him, feeling rather lightheaded. "I'm glad you believe me. Finally."

"I believe you." His voice was surprisingly faint. "I'm... sorry I tried to attack you." Slowly, dizzily, he climbed to his feet.

"Ron?" she asked. "Are you–"

"Okay?" He nodded. "Yeah, KP. I'm fine. Perfectly fine. Never been better." He dropped back to his knees. "And I'm... really sorry about this morning at the school... when I..."

"Kissed me?" She could barely get the words out. Suddenly that experience was back in her mind. He had kissed her. She still couldn't get over that. He had kissed her, and for that moment it was all she could think about. His lips on hers.

He nodded again. "Yeah. About that. Can we just let that go the route of the moodulator incident and..."

He was upset. He was really upset. And it was all her fault. "Ron, I'm sorry."

He put up his hand. "No, no, it's fine. Really. Just another awkweird incident. It's all good."

Kim sat down before him. This was natural, this was normal. She and her best friend, just hanging out on the floor, like always. Except... "Yes, this is really awkweird. But..." Say something about the synthodrone. Can't have one of those running around. The words just weren't coming out. Her mind was a mess of unsortable thoughts.

"Enough with the heartache," Shego said, plopping down between them. "I still have a synthodrone to find. So, buffoon, where did she go?"

Ron looked like he was about to give another Valentine. "She went with... Monique. Just a few minutes ago. Monique wanted girl talk. Girl talk with a..."

"Monique." Kim jumped to her feet. Monique was so lousy at defending herself. "Any idea where they went?"

Ron slowly shook his head, refusing to meet her eyes.

What had she just done? Had all that really been necessary? "Well, we really should go."

A few laughs broke out. Tim and Jim peered around from behind the couch, Tim clutching a video camera. "You had better leave before we show this to Dad. That was not appropriate dating behavior."

Ron fell face-first into the carpet.

She would just have to kill them later.


	8. Obligatory Angst Chapter of Uselessness

Kim's mom had been using that tropical mist stuff in the carpet again. Apparently the last vacuuming job had not picked up everything; Ron was becoming very familiar with the taste. Powdery, yet slightly soapy in texture, the slightest hint of fruit.

Nightmares were not supposed to be this detailed.

Somewhere above him Kim and Shego were still talking, or more appropriately yelling. Kim's brothers were there as well. Maybe. He was pretty sure. Except 'pretty sure' didn't always cover caring, and caring was usually the requirement to bother listening, and he could not listen at a time like this.

The nightmare was not ending. He was still lying there, breathing in the carpet, hoping and praying that it was all just a horrible nightmare and he would wake up soon. But that did not seem to be happening. The wrong Kim. It had been the wrong Kim. The greatest night of his life was a lie, and he hadn't even noticed. How could he have been so pathetically stupid!

Unless… there was still someplace inside from which he managed to drudge up some hope. Synthodrones could be pretty good; heck, he hadn't suspected Erik of being anything other than human. And just because Erik happened to wind up as an oozing bag of thick, green, gooey, synthogoo didn't mean that some other synthodrone could have been victim of a little food coloring during the creation process, maybe a bit more water for a thinner goo. It was supposed to look like blood. Oh, yes. Now he was onto them all. It was supposed to look like blood, as part of another trick to deceive him. Well, he was onto them. He almost looked up from the carpet.

Who was he kidding? He had babysat his little cousin Sariah, queen of bloody noses and abnormal little kid scrapes. Ron knew exactly what blood looked like. And that had been blood coming out of… Kim.

He hadn't even noticed. She had been replaced by a fake all this time and he hadn't even noticed. And even earlier… he thought back to those snippets of suspicion against something from the school. He had almost thought, almost suspected that something was off-kilter about Kim. And even two minutes ago during her great rampage of chewing-Ron-out he had known the truth, deep down. But no! He hadn't bothered to really think about any of it! The real Kim had been somewhere else all along and all he did was run off with some… fake. It was sickening to even think about it. He pounded a fist against the carpet, sending off a series of vibrating echoes into his ears.

"Ron," someone said softly.

He hadn't been able to tell the difference between the real Kim and a synthodrone. And he dared to call himself her friend. He had dared to think of her as… as something more than just a friend, even. Friendship and beyond. Hah. What sort of friend and something more couldn't even realize when the person he cared about most had been replaced?

"Ron," the voice repeated, somewhat louder. Kim.

Kim. He sucked in more carpet air. And he had even had his doubts about everything, and he still had resisted. Okay, so maybe all those suspicions were popping out in retrospection, but still they should count for something.

"Ron, please." She was begging now. He hated it when she begged. Not that she did it much, but he certainly was not enjoying it now. "Please get off the floor."

Get off the floor and face her? He shuddered to think of that. How could he face her after betraying her like that? Falling head over heals with a… synthodrone –that was a seriously nasty thought—just like it had been the real Kim. And then… what a painful thought. That had been her at the school this morning. Her, the real Kim, his Kim. No 'his Kim' was probably that synthodrone thing. Funny how that fact refused to change anything. His Kim. He knew who that was supposed to be. But evidently he couldn't tell the difference!

"Ron, maybe we should talk about this."

He should respond, he really should. At least let her know he was alive. For now, at least. How mad was she? Any more mad at him than he was at himself?

It had all felt so real, last night, this morning, everything. It was right. It was how everything was supposed to happen. Maybe what should have happened a long time ago, except that everything had been just fine the way everything had happened. Wonderful. A fight with Drakken and Shego, dramatic lock-up on giant plaster Bueno Nacho symbols, semi-romantic dialogue (at least he had sort of gotten everything out in the open), another fight with Drakken and Shego, winning said fight. She taking his hand. The prom. A kiss not involving emotion-controlling technology—a perfect kiss. A complete and true fairy tale.

He should have known it was too good to be true.

And it wasn't true. Here was the truth: all of that was a lie. And he had just carried on anyway, to a stranger. To a synthodrone, at that. He had kissed a synthodrone. So sick and wrong.

And then he had turned right around and told everything in a bombshell disaster to the real Kim. Kissed her. Without warning, he had handed over the list of every feeling he had for her. No wonder she had smacked him.

Maybe it was still all in reverse. Maybe he had gotten in right. Mind rewrite, brainwashing, whatever it took. He'd get it all back in order. Nothing disastrous had happened.

"Ron, just get off the floor!" She was getting mad now. As well she should.

This was definitely the real Kim.

"I think your little girlfriend is getting a little testy here, Stoppable," came Shego's drawl. "And this has been a lot of fun, and I know I've been all sorts of lazy and taking a chance to enjoy this, but we really need to get on the road. I have a synthodrone to recapture."

"Shego, this is really a bad time." The yell was gone, and Kim was back to that soft near-whisper.

"I thought she just abducted your friend."

"Maybe we'd know if your little invention worked."

Ron lifted his head, coming eye to eye with Kim's feet. Now he could see just how fake this super suit was. Unless that is what they wanted to him to think. No. The battle with that other voice was getting old, and it was losing anyway.

A long pause. "Good. You are alive."

"Barely." It felt weird just talking. "I think your carpet is poisonous."

She almost laughed; he could hear it her voice. Yet even that was a forced almost-laugh. "Ron, we probably should discuss this all later. I'm worried about Monique. If that thing has her…"

That 'thing' had been a pretty good dancer.

She sighed. Normally by now she would have just dragged him to his feet. She wasn't even touching him. "It's a mission, Ron. Just another mission. We can do this."

"You don't even sound sure yourself." Slowly, he pushed himself to his knees. His entire body was sore.

"Of course I'm sure. It's a mission. Just go rescue Monique and—"

He sniffed. He really did not want to be here right now. Why did he always do that to himself? That pizza night when Kim's dad had been kidnapped, she and Erik eating pizza and he had actually bothered to stay for a good twenty minutes even though hating every single moment… at least he had been there. Had that really been worth it?

At least he should meet her eyes. No, that was way too humiliating.

Humiliating? Is that all he was describing this as?

"Come on, Ron," she continued, all wrapped up in that voice when he wasn't sure if she were faking sincerity or being way too sincere for him. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Friends?" Now he was up, and suddenly it wasn't at all too hard to meet her eyes—he wasn't even sure how he came to be staring at them. "Friends?"

Even Shego took a step back.

Kim gulped. "Ron—"

The words just ripped out. "You think we're friends after I embarrass both of us this morning like that at the school?"

The silence of a deer caught in the headlights. "Yes. Ron, please. Can't we just ignore this?"

"Ignore it?" He shook his head. "You want to ignore it? I thought you were the one who had to ramble on and on about every little thing, and you just want to ignore this?"

"You just said you were fine. You were the one who suggested we file it with the moodulator incident and…" She tore her gaze away. "You just said you were fine." It was a plea.

Of course he was fine. Everything was fine. He pointed, with a little more drama than intended, to his face. "Do I look anything but fine?"

She sighed and stepped forward. "No, you do not look fine! I'm sorry, okay? This is really a surprise for me, in case you haven't noticed. If you want to sit down and talk about it, let's do it now!"

Shego raised a hand. "And the synthodrone?"

"Forget the synthodrone!" Kim took a deep breath and attempted to fix her hair. "Now…"

She had such pretty hair. No, no. He had no right to think she had pretty hair. That had been blown. He pressed his arms over his chest. "Now what?"

Another breath. Maybe she sensed the stuff in the carpet as well. "Ron, you really thought she was me all this time?"

"I am pretty sure we established that," Ron murmured. "And yes, I'm a total idiot."

She nodded and picked at a loose thread on the super suit costume. "So… you treated her since last night just like she was me."

Why did she have to bring this up? He couldn't even tell if the person he was supposed to care about was a fake. He managed a nod.

She continued to pick at the costume. She was blushing, deeply. And not a cute, happy blush. "And some things happened…"

"Oh, yeah." He clenched his teeth. "Some things happened. A lot of things happened."

"All because you thought the synthodrone was me?"

"Duh." Wait. That had been rude. He couldn't be rude to Kim, he could never be.

More silence. "May I ask why?"

"Why?" She wanted to know why? For a horrible moment Ron thought he was choking. She wanted to know everything? Every single little feeling that had come up ever since that rotten Erik had stepped into the picture? Well, all those feelings had ended in disaster. This disaster.

"Yes, why!" she replied sharply, all serenity gone. "You know, this is all really a surprise to me, too. I'm extremely lost and I don't think it's fair I have to deal with all this! So why did you do all those things?"

He stared at her, heart pounding and vaguely thinking how unmanly this all was. Guys were so not supposed to share their feelings. But apparently it was a little too late for that. "Maybe I did all that because I wanted it to be you that badly!"

More silence than ever before. For the first time Ron realized that Tim and Jim were still there, still holding a video camera with the record button glowing. And they had the very rare expression of authentic shock.

Ron groaned. He had not just said that. He had not just said that.

Kim had not moved a muscle.

Yes, he had said it. Brilliant. He turned the door. "I'm going to get my mission clothes," he muttered, and stomped out.

He barely remembered the walk home—more conscious was a subtle memory of having taken his scooter to Kim's. Yanking some throttle would have maybe felt better. But he couldn't go back for it now. He stomped up the porch steps, threw open the front door, stomped through the house, and stomped up the stairs to his room. His parents were probably home—he didn't care, he didn't want to talk to anyone but Rufus.

Oh, Rufus was going to get a kick out of this.

Rufus was on the bed, sleeping as usual. How could the little guy just sleep through all the world's problems? His eyes slowly opened as Ron jumped onto the bed.

Rufus dared to grin.

Ron sighed and picked up the naked mole rat. "It's over, buddy. No more Kim."

The grin vanished. "Kim?"

"Yes, Kim." Ron kicked against the bed. "Guess what? That girl from last night? That wasn't her? You should have bit her as well, because she's a certified synthodrone!"

Rufus' eyes went wide.

"Oh yes." Ron fell back. His head missed the pillow and slammed against the wall. Ouch. He sat up, rubbing the new bump. "Does everything have to hurt today? Is that what my life has become?"

Rufus continued to stare quizzically up at him.

"The prom, Rufus. That kiss. Everything. It wasn't her. I'm officially the biggest loser on the planet. And I didn't even know. Apparently I didn't care. Apparently I was all too wrapped up in how I felt about Kim that I couldn't pay attention to anything real going on! And now I've met the real one again… and the synthodrone probably killed Monique or something." He sighed. "Mission clothes. I'm supposed to be getting mission clothes." He left the bed and threw open his closet. No, he had it all last night. "Rufus, where are my mission clothes?"

Rufus pointed to a pile of clothing in the corner.

Ron ripped through it. Black turtleneck under the tux. That thing really was cursed. Two generations of Stoppable men affected with prom night tragedy. Yes, blame the tux. It was so much easier. He held up the shirt. It had syntho goo on the sleeve. How had that happened? He pulled off his shirt and slid the black one on. "Now the pants."

Those were crammed practically into the wall under a history textbook. When had he picked that up? How did everything wind up where it wasn't supposed to be? Another mission that would probably end horribly.

Was he really going to go on this mission? He dropped to the floor, pants half on. Was he really going to make himself go back there and face Kim? Of course he was. He had to. He couldn't let her down any further.

Why was he still thinking that way?

Because they always did missions, it was part of their friendship.

If that existed anymore.

Rufus hopped onto his shoulder, always ready for the comforting thing. It probably wasn't going to work.

"I said this last night," Ron said. "I said it all last night. The whole reason I didn't go barge into the prom the first time is because I was afraid that would ruin my friendship with Kim. I did everything I could to not ruin our friendship."

Rufus nodded emphatically.

"But it did happen. I don't even know what she's thinking now. I shouldn't have said a single word about how I felt to anyone." He finished pulling on his pants. For some reason he still thought he was just going to go ahead and join her on a mission like nothing was wrong. "Rufus, I knew this was going to happen, if I told her my feelings. Even though I knew that guys were not supposed to share their feelings." He yanked the lace on his shoe, actually tearing it. Stupid, stupid shoe. "This is exactly why guys do not share feelings!"

Maybe he wouldn't make it back over there, after all.

* * *

The door slam was much too loud. Maybe Ron had managed to break the door Shego thought was so gorgeous.

Kim considered throwing something at. Normally she wasn't inclined to that sort of temper, and even now it wasn't tempting, but the thought crossed her mind. Wasn't that what everyone else did? Threw fragile objects at slammed doors?

He had just walked out. She couldn't believe that Ron had just walked out. She had chased him away, and it was all her fault. She ran to the door and opened it. He was already half way down the sidewalk. She should yell at him. Yell really hard and loud and make him come back. He was being so stupid. Well, no scream wanted to come out.

She didn't want to scream anymore. She just wanted to go somewhere and cry.

She slammed the door again and glared at her audience. Tim and Jim looked half dead. Shego… Kim couldn't tell what Shego was feeling.

Tim pushed a button on the camera and set it on the floor. "So… a synthodrone beat us up last night?"

Great. They really were going to find this all cool. "She beat you up?"

Jim nodded slowly. "It was actually really cool."

"But we know you can beat us up, too," Tim said quickly.

Smart kids. Knew exactly what to say.

"So you and Ron don't have cooties?" Jim asked.

Or so she thought. "Just stop talking about cooties!" The tears slipped out of her eyes before she could think.

"You made her cry, genius!" Tim hissed.

"No, you made her cry!"

Kim shook her head and somehow managed to wander over to the couch without falling. It wasn't them. At least, she didn't think it was them. No, it was definitely her.

"How about we say that you both made her cry?" Shego suggested. "And all I wanted was a little help getting a crazy synthodrone back. Is that so much to ask for?"

Why wouldn't Shego just leave? Kim had a horrible feeling that Shego would be the next one she would start ranting to.

"Kimmie?"

Good. A different ranting victim. Her mom. Instinct demanded a jump up and a dash over for a hug.

That's what she got. Moms were good for hugs.

"Kimmie, what's wrong?" Mrs. Possible smoothed back Kim's hair. "Why are you back in that outfit? And why is own of your archenemies here?"

Kim sniffed. "It's too long a story."

Shego sighed. "Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Possible. Sorry to drag you into this little drama. Don't worry, I don't plan on blowing up the house just yet."

Mrs. Possible froze. "Where's Ron?"

"Kim and Ron aren't dating," Jim said with a snicker.

Stupid little brat.

Mrs. Possible gasped, and Kim thought back to every little reference her mother had made towards her and Ron. "You didn't break up already?"

"They never were together," Shego explained. Her voice was only slightly amused. "Little Ron was dating a synthodrone. Don't worry, this is the real Kimmie—I know because I left her tied up in a basement all night." And with that the entire story came spilling out, Shego-style, including a near destruction of the synthodrone by Shego that Kim was sure didn't happen.

It wasn't good for archenemies to explain drama stories to one's parents.

Mrs. Possible hugged Kim closer. "Don't I feel silly. I didn't even suspect… Kim, I am so sorry!"

Kim didn't care anymore. All she could think about was Ron. "Ron hates me, Mom."

"Honey, I'm sure he doesn't hate you. He seemed very in love with you just a while back—"

Kim pushed herself away, shaking her head furiously. "Mom, didn't you hear anything that was just said! That wasn't me!"

"Oh, you're right. But still he at least showed something…"

"And suddenly everyone is wrapped up in this!" Kim brushed the tears away. Maybe enough salt water would melt this awful fake suit. "Mom, I didn't mean to hurt him that way. I just wanted him to recognize me."

Mrs. Possible sighed and gave one of those horribly perfect mother smiles. "Kimmie, did you ever once think—"

Kim didn't get to know what to think. The shrill sound of the kimmunicator rounded off.

But the synothodrone had…

It was coming from the backpack next to the couch. The robot had left it there. Good. At least Kim had the kimmunicator back. She dove onto the bag and pulled the kimmunicator out. "Wade?"

He looked more than a little frightened to see her.

Did she look that awful? "Wade, in case you don't remember, I've been having a bad day."

Her mom didn't seem to be with that fact, though. She poked her head over the screen to wave. "Hi, Wade! We heard about the little synthodrone mix-up and…" She stepped back, smile fading. "Well, I'll let you two figure it all out, I have laundry to do."

She wasn't going to leave already? Kim wasn't finished whining yet. "Mom, you can stick around."

She gave another one of those motherly smiles as she headed toward the stairs. "Maybe this isn't the best time to talk right now, Kimmie."

"But Mom!"

She was gone.

The perfect need for a mother/daughter talk and she wasn't willing. Kim felt more tears coming on.

"So… your mom realizes it's you, now?" Wade asked. "That's good. I was just calling up to see if you had convinced anyone. Does—"

"Yes, Wade. Ron knows. Ron finally figured it out."

Wade didn't seem to catch anything but the words, and smiled. "That's even better."

Some child genius. The kid was so oblivious to how she was feeling.

"So now we have Ron to work with. And apparently still Shego." He paused. "So what did Ron say, when he figured it out? You know, I still can't believe you two kissed and—"

That was too much. Everything inside Kim seemed to explode. She squeezed the kimmunicator with both hands, so hard she almost hoped she would managed to break it, and brought up to her face so Wade could get every detail of what he wasn't tuning in on. "What, Wade? What are you saying? Are you still disgusted that he kissed me? Is that so horrible to your tastes? We have kissed before, you know. You remember that! So why aren't you used to it?" What on earth was she saying? "Am I so undesirable that no one in their right mind would kiss me? Is it so unthinkable that Ron would ever want to kiss me? Why is it so gross?"

"Kim's lost it," Tim whispered. "Let's go."

Gasping for breath, Kim lowered the kimmunicator.

Wade looked just as terrified as the tweebs.

"Sorry," she muttered.

He nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, too, I guess."

She put a hand to her forehead. The blood certainly was pumping. "I guess I just had to know. For that one brief moment."

"Kim, I'm eleven. I still believe in cooties. All kissing is disgusting."

"I guess I didn't think of that."

Silence.

"So," Wade began. "Any luck on finding the synthodrone?"

"We think it has Monique. That's the last time anyone saw the synthodrone." How could she have forgotten about that?

Shego snatched the kimmunicator from Kim's hand. "Yes. The synthodrone. Finally, people remember the synthodrone. And I think I need to talk to your computer guy about what to do when we get the synthodrone back."

"Sure," Kim said breathlessly, not bothering to fight for the kimmunicator. "I'm just going to go take a quick shower."

"Uh, Kim?" Shego said. "I thought your friend was in danger. And your sidekick boyfriend might be back any second."

Oh, yeah. Ron had gone to get mission clothes. Or so he had said. Kim squeezed the stair railing. "I said I'm taking a shower! I'll rescue Monique later!" She marched up the stairs, hardly caring how odd it was that she was leaving someone like Shego in her house chatting with Wade.

This wasn't normal, Kim realized. She needed to rescue Monique. Who knew what that thing would do to her?

But she couldn't do anything when she couldn't think. Besides, they had to wait for Ron. They couldn't do anything without Ron. He would come back, wouldn't he? Of course he would come back. He had to. He was Ron. He wouldn't let her down. If he didn't come back, she would kill him. And if he did come back…

She entered her bathroom and pulled off the sickening fake super suit. Then she stepped into her shower and turned it on with as much heat as she could put up with. That was turning out to be a lot. She really needed this shower, she told herself. Even though she was a horrible friend and had hurt Ron so much… she swallowed a mouthful of shower water. It had been the only way. He was being ignorant as usual, and she couldn't have him trying to kill her, and it was so hard to be tactful when one was tired and… there were a thousand excuses.

She wasn't so mad at him. This was all just a little… bewildering. And frustrating. Very frustrating. So he had been very weird during the whole Erik thing, and he never had liked Josh, but still… they had a strong friendship—it was always weird when other things entered in.

She grabbed at the shampoo, only managing to knock it open at the shower floor.

Why hadn't Ron said anything about this before?


	9. Back at the Lair

_Here it is, late in coming, the next chapter! And I must give a whole lotta thanks to taechunsa for all the help he gave, especially regarding the fight scenes._

* * *

"You suck, you know."

Who knew that holding a captive would be this difficult? 993 gave the most irritatingly dramatic sigh she could muster and looked up from the magazine she was reading. Magazines. A strange desire, though from watching Shego she had a strong suspicion about the origin of that programming. Heck, the magazines had already been here, waiting in a pile in Drakken's lair, perfectly placed next to a lawn chair and the best view of the metal pole where she had that pesky Monique strung up four feet over the ground. 993 hadn't thought much of the girl since that sickening Bueno Nacho place. At least, she didn't think she had liked her it was difficult to think back to that moment of chaos. "Suck. Define suck."

Monique had long given up her struggle against the ropes. "Suck. What I just said. Though do not kid me: I know the original meaning of that term and a lot worse words besides! You don't think a hot black thang like me cannot pick them up? Especially with my moron of a brother? I'm saying that you are going down the moment the real Kim gets a hold of you."

"The real Kim." 993 paused. What had happened to the real Kim? Hopefully she was still happily locked away in that janitor's closet. "I hate to break it to you, Monique, but the real Kim is..." Kim Possible programming was yelling at her to say something nice. Kim Possible program liked this psychotic girl. "The real Kim is dead. I killed her myself."

Monique didn't even blink. "Oh, don't even to try to lie. You did not."

"Oh?" 993 dropped the magazine. "What makes you so sure of that?"

She immediately regretted asking. Monique took a deep breath, completely predicting a nice long rant 993 had already heard several. "Why did I ask?"

"You can't ask and not expect a reply," Monique snapped. "Because you got me pretty upset with all the blood in my body rushing to my feet and I seriously ain't planning on using a tourniquet on myself anytime soon. So you are going to sit and listen to me."

To her own surprise, 993 actually stayed.

"First thing: you let li'l old me drag you all the way from your house 'scuse me, Kim's house down the street and around five corners to Bueno Nacho. And everyone knows I am not your female athlete, so that has to say something about you. And even though I'm sure you could have taken that girl out at Bueno Nacho, you didn't. Third, I'm guessing you are supposed to be some sort of syntho clone of Kim. So if you're Kim, then any fight between you to as to be somewhat equal. Fourth, if you are a syntho clone, you have to act something like Kim, and the Kim I know wouldn't kill anyone."

So much the better for being a synthodrone. 993 smiled.

"Fifth..." Monique was showing no sign of slowing down. "When I came, unbeknownst to any idea that you were not Kim, I believe Ron was under the impression that we would be returning... and that was about an hour and a half ago, according to that goofy kitty cat clock on the wall. And Ron knows perfectly well that we do not spend an hour and a half at Bueno Nacho."

"He thinks we were girl talking," 993 pointed out. Ron... oh, she did want to get back to him, more than anything. If she could just look at him once more... Well, this plan was as good as any. Sooner or later they would figure out that she wasn't returning and Monique was gone. And that Drakken and Shego were out of jail. And Ron, oh her wonderful Ron, would put two and two together and come charging after her either to attempt to help with Monique's rescue or rescue her, his KP, himself, she didn't know how his mind worked and they would be reunited in one enormous battle. She had chills just thinking about it. Yes, this is what Kim Possible liked. This is what Kim Possible was all about. Fighting the bad guys and saving the day. Well, that shouldn't be too hard to pull off.

Unless all these thoughts of hers were Drakken's programming. Maybe she unconsciously brought Monique here, to the lair, so she could lure Ron here and she shuddered. No, no, no! That was not it! The glitch she had would overpower that, wouldn't it?

Drakken hadn't even been here. He was off... arranging something else. Yes, that was it.

And even if this were part of whatever great plan Dr. Drakken Emperor of the Universe, well, she'd recognize that soon enough and change everything just so.

"Well..." Monique faltered. "I've known Ron long enough to know that he has no idea how to judge girl talk. Guys can tell their life stories in five minutes... he'll get suspicious, I know he will." Her confidence pivoted back around as her eyes narrowed with her grin. "Besides, he'll miss you."

"Miss me?" 993 echoed. She jumped up far too quick. Too much excitement. She couldn't let this lousy friend of Kim's suspect she had any real feelings for Ron. Demure as possible, she slipped back into the chair. "And why would he miss me?"

Monique rolled her eyes. "Come on, girl. It's obvious you have the hots for him. I know these things. Just like Ron had the hots for the real Kim since forever -back when he didn't even know it." She sighed, and her grin softened. "Now that is a couple destined for legend, those two -at least at our high school, anyway. Not you and Ron. Kim and Ron. Not that they ever listen to me. I mean, really. Can't a girl drop a few subtle hints and hope Cupid will get the idea? Because I don't think I should have to do the whole thing by myself. But no!" She sent another twist, late in coming, through the ropes. "Nobody ever listens to Monique. And I don't think I should have to be that obvious. I say a few things in there, and every other idiot in the world recognizes what I'm trying to do but them. 'Stick by your Ron, Kim.' 'Is it so bad she has a chip on her giving her the desire to make out with, Ron?'" She shook her head, disgusted. "Okay, so I told him that later, after they told me about the chip. Which the real Kim would know about! But I told him something similar at the time!"

993 fought an odd desire to nod in agreement. Girl talk, yes. This was good. No, no it wasn't good. Not when the girl talk didn't concern her. "So... those are your only reasons for, how you say, 'Kim's alive'?"

Monique shook her head. "Actually, there's one more."

Yawn. "And I cannot wait to hear it."

The soft smile was gone. The grin was back.

Something wasn't right.

993 turned slightly, listening. There didn't seem to be anything... just the normal humming of machinery and...

The flash of green was all she needed to see. A whirl of green and black coming across the bare floor behind her and the gloved hand, just out of the corner of her eye, jetting forward in a punch.

993 twisted to the left and grabbed Shego's wrist with one hand. The other slammed hard into her stomach. In a dizzying arc 993 flung Shego over her head. Shego landed in a crumpled heap a short distance away, past where Monique was strung up like a burnt offering on a stake.

993 took a deep breath and scanned the area. No sign of anyone else, but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Monique no longer looked so pleased with herself.

* * *

"Don't give away your allies," 993 hissed. She sucked in more air. "She's here, isn't she? Kim Possible."

I am the biggest jerk alive, Kim thought. I am such a lousy friend. So horrible. Monique is going to hate me forever.

But dang, that shower had been nice. A nice hot waterfall of... water, just enough to make her push Ron as far out of her mind as she could push him. Which apparently wasn't far enough.

She was having a wonderful day with friends, wasn't she? And all she had wanted yesterday was to go to the prom. It wasn't supposed to be this disaster.

She had been right. She had waited for twenty minutes after her shower. Ron had not returned.

And so she had been forced to go rescue Monique with Shego.

She watched from her hiding place, barely caring, as the synthodrone flipped Shego right over its head, Monique behind them looking for all the world like she had betrayed them all. Well, the girl shouldn't have smiled like that.

Shego wasn't grounded long. Without so much as a groan, she rubbed at her wrist, stared forcefully up at the synthodrone, and sprang back up to her feet. It was just her and the synthodrone. She curled forward into a quick flip and landed just before the synthodrone. Then she smiled, hands already up and glowing bright green. "So I see you came back to the lair. So original. You're worse than Kimmy."

Kim had never really watched Shego fight from a distance. Not bad at all.

Ron would be thinking this is so cool.

No. She could not think of him right now. He had not shown up. He had refused to go on this mission with her. What sort of boy told... someone else that he loved you and then wouldn't help out?

Where were these thoughts coming from?

"So you came right back here," Shego continued. "I should be impressed. Oh, I won't lie. I am impressed. It's wonderful. Dr. D would be so pleased."

The synthodrone lowered her arms, though the muscles or whatever the thing was built of still seemed to twitch. "I did as you would want me. I have lured Kim Possible here."

Shego just laughed. "Yeah, uh huh. You did good. Marvelous. Except I'm not really in the mood to fall for any of that." She leaped towards the synthodrone and attacked, hands glowing all the brighter. She kicked, punched, kicked, punched, locking the synthodrone into a virtual sea of flying limbs; the synthodrone was just as ready.

Kim couldn't help but wonder if she looked that good while fighting.

Well, it was now or never. Ron or no Ron good grief, why couldn't she get him out of her head? Kim turned from the entrance into the room. As long as the synthodrone did not look up...

Though Shego was trying her best to hide Kim. Somewhere between the blows and punches came the broken words of "Kim Possible isn't even here."

It was so odd to watch. When she and Shego had battled, is this what everyone else saw?

Kim darted out. For a moment she wasn't sure what she was planning on doing. It couldn't be so hard. Just what she always did. Fight the bad guys, take 'em down. Yes, that was it. Just normal, everyday saving the world. Of course Ron was supposed to be here.

That reversed the whole process. The panic returned. It was his own fault. Everything he had done was his fault.

But how could he just ditch out of a mission like this, on top of everything else?

The synthodrone came out on top. Dropping below a high kick, she spun into a leg sweep and dropped Shego to the ground. Continuing her motion the synthodrone brought her leg the rest of the way around, planted her foot, and pounced before she could recover. Landing on top of her, Kim's hands slid to Shego's shoulders and pinned her forcefully to the cement.

Shego was on her side, Kim thought. For this time, at least, Shego was on her side and she had do to something. Kim took a deep breath and ran. One quick jump and

The synthodrone gave an eerie cry that was too close to her own as she slammed down onto Shego to avoid Kim's attempted kick. Kim tried again. Why not be brutal? There was already a dog pile. Thinking of the few wrestling matches she had seen, Kim jumped right onto the synthodrone's back and held on, feeling the way the synthodrone struggled underneath her. And Shego. Oops.

Ron had always loved when this sort of thing happened in wrestling.

Apparently enough wind, or whatever synthodrones had, was knocked out of this one. Kim held the synthodrone tight as Shego struggled out from under the pile, careful to kick the synthodrone's face on her way out. Shego moaned and rubbed her thigh. "Geeze, princess! I don't enjoy the sandwich thing."

"Deprogram her," Kim said breathlessly. The synthodrone seemed to gaining strength with every second. "Quickly." Another deep breath, and she glanced up at Monique. "Sorry I'm late."

Monique shrugged. "Hey, it's all good. I've just been... hanging around. So where's Ron?"

"Ron?" Kim didn't realize she was trying to keep innocence in there, but the shock was enough.

The synthodrone lurched beneath her, another too Kim scream coming out of her throat.

Kim fell back hard and rolled- the synthodrone had managed to throw her off with shear brute strength. Kim was beginning to hate robots.

The synthodrone was already on her feet, looking for all the world as if she had just begun to fight. Which, with what she was seeing of synthodrone programming, wouldn't surprise Kim.

"At least give me time to get your computer friend's equipment out before you release her!" Shego shrieked.

The wind had been knocked out of her. Kim sat up. Ow... that thing threw hard. Just like back at the school... why did the robot get all the strength without even working out?

"I think I'm just going to shut up now," Monique said loudly. "If anyone's listening."

Kim jumped up just before the synthodrone launched herself at her. The red hair whipped at her face. Nylon, Kim could tell. Couldn't even get the girl real hair. The synthodrone caught herself and whirled back around. Kim wondered if she looked that ugly when she was angry.

"I thought you were in the closet," the synthodrone said. "You were supposed to be in the closet."

"I got out," Kim snapped. "Really isn't that hard."

"Hard enough for you. No wonder Ron prefers--"

Kim didn't hear the rest of the sentence. Shego knocked the synthodrone down on her stomach, pinned her arms back, and held tight. "Yap, yap... I should have expected that when two Kimmies fight each other. Now..." She released one hand to go for what had to be a pocket.

The synthodrone struck back. Shego fell, a little electronic doo hickey from Wade skittering across the floor.

Dang. This was not working. For some odd reason, this was not working. Kim found herself stepping back. What was so wrong? She and Shego.. Easily the two best physical fighters around...

This was Ron's fault. By whatever logic, this was Ron's fault. Why was he doing this to her? What had she said to him ?

She hadn't said anything. She hadn't said a single word. All she had done was listen to him talk about that stupid synthodrone!

No, it wasn't Ron's fault. It was the synthodrone's. The synthodrone was the cause of all this. If there hadn't been a synthodrone, then Ron wouldn't have told it all that he had and... and... and there wouldn't be this huge mess!

"Come on, Kim," said the synthodrone coyly. "I have all sorts of cheerleading training programmed into my circuits... let's have a competition."

It was all its fault. It was all its fault. Kim smiled. "Yes, let's."

"Go, Kim!" Monique called. "Dang, but I love watching a good fight."

This was hardly a wrestling match. Kim prepared. Now what would be the best sort of attack? She glanced at Shego. She had retrieved the little toy Wade had given her and looked just as ready for a fight. Okay, double team. Not exactly fair, but everything else hadn't been fair today, either, so...

Then the synthodrone screamed as a naked mole rat jumped right onto her head.

"Rufus?" Kim paused.

"Good surprise attack, buddy!" Ron's voice called out of nowhere. And then he appeared, a falling body poised right for the synthodrone. The landing wasn't exactly graceful, but clumsiness apparently had its place. The synthodrone sprawled flat, Ron hardly looking much better. But at least he was grinning. "Okay, I'm assuming this isn't the real Kim. Unless you changed clothes again. But you aren't in mission clothes, and I know that Kim would be in mission clothes. Unless you knew that the real Kim would be in mission clothes and..." The grin faded. "Are you the real Kim?"

Kim couldn't move. It was Ron. For some reason she hated the sight of him at this moment, but it was indeed Ron. He had come after all. Extremely late, but he was here.

"Wow," Shego said softly. "You have some boy there, Kimmie. The only one so far to take out the synthodrone."

"He's not my boy," Kim replied defensively.

Shego shrugged. "I was just saying. I mean, I saw all that went on back at your house. And hey, he's not... bad looking."

Kim stared at her. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Another shrug. "I get a kick out of coupled enemies. All I'm saying is that he seems to like you. And that's sort of cute. In an extremely weird and gross way."

The synthodrone struggled under Ron's grip. "Ron, it's..."

He screamed wildly and flung his body back on her. "I know you're fake! You have completely ruined my life, synthodrone! It's completely ruined, all because of you!"

Kim looked at Shego, then to Ron. He hadn't even looked at her yet.

Well, she could understand that. What exactly were they going to do after this?

"Ron," said the synthodrone. "I will "

"You will admit you are the fake!"

She gasped and stopped wriggling. "Fine. I am not the real Kim Possible."

Ron blinked and sat back"Wow. That was easy." Then he pushed her down again. "And now you are going down."

She shook her head, red hair flying everywhere. "But what's so wrong with that? I'm cute; I look just like her. And I know she doesn't feel the same way about you that I do."

No, Kim thought. That wasn't... She didn't know what she thinking. Whoa.

"You kissed me," the synthodrone continued. "You kissed me. You obviously feel something! You can't deny it!"

The entire lair went silent as they waited for Ron to respond.

This wouldn't be good, Kim thought. It couldn't be good. She could stop it. She could just say something right now and make Ron look at her and recognize her. But her mouth wouldn't open.

Then Ron finally spoke, and as he did his face seemed to go stone. "The only reason I kissed you was because I thought you were Kim! Have you not figured that out, whatever you are? That's the only reason I kissed you! That's the only reason I said anything to you. Because I'm so stupid that I couldn't tell the difference between a synthodrone and my best friend in the world. But that doesn't matter, because I was thinking of Kim the entire time. She's the most important person in the world to me, and that won't change no matter what she does."

Kim couldn't breathe. This was not happening.

Shego gave a low whistle.

"All right!" Monique, still tied up. Kim had forgotten about her. "This is better than a soap opera!"

The synthodrone smiled. "So that's it... see? She's obviously not caring right now. Do you hear her returning your affection? Just horrified silence. She doesn't feel for you the way I do. It's not so bad, dating a synthodrone. Not bad at all. And apparently she hates you. And you still say you care about her?"

"You don't stop caring for someone just because they do something wrong. That's just..." He paused. "Really shallow. So yes, I really do love Kim. And I always will even if that means I have to spend the rest of my life as a heart broken soul bitter at the world."

The breath came out of Kim's lungs in a painful blast. He said it again. He said 'I love you' again. Technically it hadn't been her but... It didn't make any sense. Everything that had led to love had been with the synthodrone.

Unless...

Shego raised an eyebrow. "Wow, Kimmie. If he says anything else, and I were insane, I might just run off with him."

The synthodrone didn't reply. And Kim still couldn't move. She watched in fascination as the synthodrone's face twisted with fury. Just ready to strike Ron...

Shego sighed and flexed her fingers. "Let's get this program on the road." She dove in just before the synthodrone touched Ron.

Ron stared up at Shego in amazement. Apparently Ron had been oblivious to everyone but the synthodrone. "Oh... Shego. Are you still good?" He forced the synthodrone's arms back to the floor.

"Relax. I'm just going to give her a little shot that will make her stop being... weird." She bent down, the electronic device poised. "Your computer guy had better know what he's talking about."

"I'm going to kill him!" the synthodrone shrieked. "Heartbreaker! You horrible, horrible heartbreaker!"

Rufus just shook his head.

"After all I did for " The synthodrone froze. The reprogramming was taking effect.

What a relief. All that chaos... gone. Except for... Ron. He still loved her. Not the synthodrone. Her.

And he had come after all. Late, but... She pushed the thought away, though she could still see him out of the corner of her eye looking pointedly at something else. There was still Monique, hanging from a metal post. She turned around, smiling. "Sorry to leave you up there."

Monique didn't return the smile.

"What?"

Monique shook her head. "Girl, I'm not even going to try. Sometimes you just make me so mad!"

Kim forced the smile to continue. "Monique, I have no idea what you're talking "

Somewhere a door slammed, followed by the sound of off-key whistling of "I'm Getting Married in the Morning." Drakken turned a corner, holding a bag of groceries, a Slim Jim poking out of his mouth. "I ran down to the corner, Shego," he began. "We were out of Captain Crunch and..." The groceries fell as he looked at the room. "Shego! How many times do I have to tell you not to fight enemies unless I am here to gloat? And what are you doing to 993?"

"She's okay, Dr. D," Shego replied. "Or Emperor of the Universe. I just... fixed her."

"Fixed her? There wasn't anything wrong with her in the first place."

"She was making wedding plans with the buffoon. But now she's fixed. I reprogrammed her, and I doubt we'll have any problems."

Drakken laughed. "You forget that I'm the computer genius here."

"So I borrowed Possible's. Just watch." Shego helped the synthodrone to her feet. "Kimmie, thanks so much for helping me track her down. It made things so much easier. Now to check if she works. Synthodrone 993, destroy Kim Possible."


	10. Heroics

The change was almost immediate. 993 rose from the floor in one fluid motion, eyes fixated tightly on Kim. Whatever freaky robo-anger she had felt before was gone, replaced by the eeriest sneer Ron had never seen on the real Kim's face.

Ron, now half-sitting on the floor, scrambled backwards in an odd crabwalk he hadn't used since elementary school. This could not be good. This could not be good at all.

"Uh-oh," Rufus stated briefly.

Ron found himself nodding. That was right. Uh-oh. The biggest 'uh-oh' he had ever come in contact with. No, scratch that. In the past forty-five minutes. He wouldn't lie to himself that he hadn't seen anything worse. But somehow this wasn't quite turning out to what he expected. He was supposed to fly in all dramatically and destroy this crazy synthodrone and save the day and all that other fun stuff. Boo-yah. But this wasn't that. This was something altogether different.

Shego was a traitor. Why, oh why, had he not seen that coming?

Kim. It was Kim's fault. Kim was the one who decided to team up with Shego. Of all the stupid things. The stupid things were his job, not Kim's. Now Kim…

Barely a second had passed, he realized. Barely a second. And it all came to him lying there on the floor like an idiot while a synthodrone leered at Kim.

Shego stepped back and folded her arms over her chest in obvious self-importance. "See, Dr. D? All better!"

Drakken took another bite from his Slim Jim. "I still don't see any action."

She laughed. "Just wait."

"I can't just jump in there like a moron," the synthodrone replied. The tone really wasn't all that Kim-like, now that Ron thought about it. "She'd probably do me instantly."

Rufus emitted another squeak and hopped onto Ron's shoulder. Why did Rufus always do that? Protection? Protection. Ron bit his lip. Wasn't that why he was here? Yes, that had been the plan. Swing into action, fight the bad guys, protect Kim… and so far he was doing an awful job. No wonder she didn't feel the same.

She stood next to Monique's pole. Nothing… seemed wrong. She glared back at Shego and the synthodrone, fists already squeezed and lowered defensively at her side. "Shego," she finally said. Slowly. Haltingly. Ron had never seen her like this. "Why am I not surprised? And to think I trusted you."

That seemed to catch the synthodrone's interest—at least draw a laugh out of her. She turned to Shego, her expression almost demanding approval. Shego shrugged, smile widening by the second. "Hey, it's like that story everyone tells about the snake or whatever it was. You knew I was a horrible villain, and yet you teamed up with me anyway. Your fault."

"I've had a very bad night." And with that Kim struck. In the blink of an eye her knees bent to the floor in a firm crouch that allowed only her finger tips to brush the surface. Then she was back up, flying through the air in a rolling flip that arched over the distance to the synthodrone and landed her just inches away—with a single whirling kick that Ron recognized from the last cheer competition landing at the synthodrone's face.

Monique cheered. "This is better than wrestling! Go Kim!"

Ron's breath caught. Yes. This was his Kim. She was never scared for very long. Never.

But the synthodrone still had that awful programming. Before the kick could leave its mark, her hands were up and striking Kim's foot away. With one foot Kim jumped back and prepared for one more kick.

For a moment Ron was frozen where he was, splayed awkwardly in the middle of the room, ready fodder to be trampled. This was insane. Two Kims, fighting each other. One didn't see something like that everyday. Perhaps he could get Monique or even Drakken to make some bets with him on the outcome…

Another defiant squeak. Rufus had moved to Ron's knee and now stared up at him with the bossiest glare any naked mole rat had ever given.

Dang. Right. That's why he was here. Kim. The real Kim. The one he had followed out here because he had been stupid enough to try to ditch out a mission. Almost. He was here now. That had to count for something.

But he had never, ever let Kim go on a mission on her own. Just because their relationship was in chaos right now was no reason to change that.

You didn't just ignore the people you… loved.

He was way in over his head with this. Mistake after mistake after mistake. And this had to be another mistake, or something downright close to it. That synthodrone was really good. Really, really good.

But not that good. How could he have ever confused the two of them? They were nothing alike! Well, maybe a little bit. The hair was about the same color…

But she could fight just as well as Kim. That was the same. Maybe even fight a bit better…

Kim couldn't possibly hold out very long on this, could she?

Good grief, he couldn't think!

And then it came.

"Ron, do something, moron!"

He gasped and jumped to his feet. That was it. The voice of his conscience. Somewhere above him, brutal and beautiful and everything he had imagined his conscience would be.

"This is obviously too fair a fight for Kim—can't believe I'm saying that--, and I know that you are famous for doing weird stuff to miraculously help save the day, so get on with that."

It was true. The fight between Kim and the synthodrone was casting itself into a oddly creepy tornado of whirling arms and legs and a dozen other feats of physical nature Ron had never really bothered to ponder. It was fair, too fair. Kim couldn't fight herself and win, could she? Was that not a paradox?

"For crying out loud, boy, get up and do something useful! Do you love the girl? This is probably more exciting for me than it is for you, and yet you insist on ruining it! Ron, I am ashamed to call you my friend right now. Of course that's also going for Miss Love is Blind over there… You're all idiots."

His conscience was getting mean. But what was he supposed to do? But yes… he did care for Kim, no matter what she thought! He had meant what he had shouted at the synthodrone. He wasn't going to forget Kim just because she hated him. He had to find something! His conscience was demanding it! His eyes spun over the room. Drakken still standing with his groceries, the various computers and pipes and other pointless odds and ends that always seemed to litter this lair. Maybe if he could build yet another world-destroying device… no, not enough materials, and that was a miracle one could pull off only so many times. Rufus scampered back to his shoulder, his eyes searching just as fast as Ron's. Maybe he could climb up and jump off of something. Again. Would that work once more?

The voice of his conscience gave an exasperate sigh. "Distract the clone thing, Ron!"

Of course! Maybe he could seduce her. After all, he had done it before. Girls liked apologies, right? Yes, that would be his plan. He smiled and pumped a fist into the air. "Thank-you, Conscience!"

"Conscience? Honey, did you hit your head?"

He finally looked up.

Monique stared down at him from her post, frowning. "I know I'm brilliant, Ron, but please do not consider me your conscience. I don't want to think about having that kind of responsibility. Now, rescue your girl before I have to chew my way out of here and beat the both of you."

Ron nodded. How long had Monique been up there, anyhow? "Thank-you, Monique!" With that, he began the arduous task of thrusting himself between Kim and the synthodrone.

Or at least thinking about the arduous task.

But the fight was still furious.

Okay, different plan. He would… call her. Yes, shout her name. How hard could it be? He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, Kim!"

Neither Kim nor Kim-copy glanced at him.

That wasn't working. He took a deep breath. "Hey, Synthodrone Kim! I've changed my feelings for you!"

The synthodrone didn't pause, but sent another kick in Kim's direction. "Feelings? What feelings?"

Girls. Were they always like this? So… changeable? "I've decided that I really do love you. More than the real Kim Possible. Human girls are so common."

Rufus made a face. Ron inwardly agreed. Synthodrone. Yuck.

"I'm flattered." The synthodrone dodged a blow by backing right into the wall. Cornerned? "But I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. You love me? You just said you didn't?" Then, before Kim could do anything, she lifted her arms over her head and sprang up. Her hands pushed off the wall as she did so, and sent her body sailing over Kim's head. She twisted as she landed, facing Kim's back. She raised one hand.

Kim spun around and deflected. "Ron, what do you think you're doing?"

The synthodrone shrugged and took a few more steps back, her feet sliding backwards over the floor like in a dance. She was good. "Well, you are the real Kimmie, aren't you? If you want to say human is any more real than anyone else. The original Kim Possible, we'll say. Shouldn't you know more about this?"

Something was wrong.

"You have to apologize!" Monique hissed.

But he hated apologizing. "I'm sorry… Syntho-Kim! I was scared of my own feelings!" What else worked in an apology? "I was insecure and afraid of a new relationship. But I'm ready to commit! You are my sun and my moon!"

For a moment everyone paused. Kim stared at him, balanced precariously with one foot, barely supportive, behind her. Drakken almost choked on his Slim Jim.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Shego muttered.

The synthodrone glanced briefly at Kim. "Once again, I'm flattered, and you are very sweet. But…" she pointed at Shego, "she reprogrammed me. I'm fixed."

Ron's heart plummeted way past the area of his rib cage. Fixed? "What?"

"The bugs are gone. The ones that made me in love with you."

"Are you that blind, sidekick?" Shego asked with a sneer. Her arms dropped to her sides… and her hands went green. "Everyone else watched me reprogram the girl. You were right there! I fixed her! Really, I don't know how you got caught up in your position of this insane love triangle."

"I was so—" the synthodrone began.

But she had paused too long. Kim struck, one quick kick to the synthodrone's leg. She stumbled back, no longer quite as graceful as before. Kim came in closer for another strike.

Go Kim! Ron thought. Maybe she could pull this off herself.

But the synthodrone was quick to recover. Kim made another jab, but the third… the synthodrone deflected it, and Shego jumped in with a move of her own, glowing green fists flying right towards Kim's shoulder. One block, two blocks…

"Wonderful," Monique said above him.

No. He could not let Kim be beaten here. Kim always won. Last night, when she thought she had lost—that had not been Kim. That had been the synthodrone. And even then, he hadn't let the stupid synthodrone think anything bad about herself.

Perhaps he was supposed to think something inspiring about Kim at this moment. Maybe himself. Maybe he was supposed to call out some heartwarming message of courage and triumph to Kim. Like he had done last night.

But all he could think about was how that thing had gotten the message that had been intended for Kim.

The fight of women shifted to the left. Someone's foot hit something, and sent it skidding over the floor towards Ron.

That… reprogramming thing Shego had used.

He heard angels sing. It was only a few feet away. He dove for it. Didn't seem all that complicated. A few buttons, a few knobs, something that was obviously supposed to be stuck into the synthodrone to start the reprogramming or however Wade would say it….

Great. Rufus sighed.

Unless… No. No, he couldn't ask Kim of that right now. She'd probably just ignore him or yell at him. Or maybe both. If that were realistic and possible. And he might just miss; Shego could catch it. And destroy it.

Rufus ran down his arm and snatched the device. It was bigger than the little guy, but he managed to hold it up just fine. He looked up at Ron, questioning.

Ron shook his head. "I don't know how to work it, either! Just… press buttons or something! That always works for us!"

Rufus saluted and jumped to the floor. Like lightening he joined the fight.

Or tried to.

As small and agile as he was, he couldn't get near the synthodrone.

Drakken let out another cackle and began to pick up his groceries. "This is wonderful! How could I have doubted Shego?" Then his eyes locked with Ron's. "Oh, I remember your name this time. But I refuse to say it. Because I know you will lose!"

Ron somehow doubted Ron remembered a single syllable.

Rufus glanced back, panicked. He couldn't even manage to get the device in the synthodrone's foot!

There had to be some other way. He couldn't lose.

Of course he couldn't lose. He wasn't even fighting. Apparently he was going to have to fight for Kim.

He didn't even think. All he could see was Kim, one clear figure fighting off the somehow murkier shapes of the synthodrone and Shego.

He could still fight for her.

"Ron, you are not about to do what I think you're about to do." Monique sounded very distant. And rather happy.

Before he knew it, he was running over the floor. Then on the floor, sliding on this stomach and completely unaware of how that had come to be. He grabbed the device from Rufus and shoved his way into the fight.

It hurt a great deal.

"Ron!" one of the Kims shouted.

He didn't care. There was the synthodrone wearing the synthodrone Kim outfit. She still didn't look a thing like the real Kim. She stared down at him in a split second of shock. She was probably going to try and kill him. He jabbed the device through her jeans. Oh, how he hoped this did something. He had no idea how the device worked. Well, there was always the hope he had even greater luck with computers than Shego.

The synthodrone gave a surprised yelp, then swung a fist at his head.

The last thing he remembered was Kim's face, mouth wide open.

The real Kim.


	11. A Good Glitch

993 decided she did not like any of this reprogramming stuff one tiny bit. Was that wrong of her? Was she supposed to have some automatic desire to demand a little fix-up every time the tiniest thing went wrong? Well, she hadn't asked for it in the first place, and now... two jolts of changing signals in under five minutes. It couldn't be healthy.

She felt the chip extension drive itself through her covering once more. She imagined it felt like a pinprick, how a pinprick would feel to any real human. Painful.

And Ron was responsible for it this time. Ron. Ron Stoppable, the boy she had spent the past day thinking she was in love with. And now that was gone. If it hadn't been before, it would definitely not be surviving this final blast of sure cruelty.

Men. How she hated them!

Or how she would hate them, if she could feel any of that former passion. She remembered it, it had been nice. Wonderful and crazy and out-of-control and the odd perfection humans were so marvelously capable of. Love. Yes, it had been a great feeling. A great glitch.

"You idiot!" Shego screamed as she launched another glowing fist at Ron.

Too late. Ron was on the floor, one arm bent awkwardly under his body, head twisted around to point a nose to the ceiling. It was like a pile of synthodrone parts just dropped on the floor.

The programmer clattered down next to him, and once again the blaze of electrons and waves and way too much data flew to 993's syntho-brain.

Ron still looked sort of cute. Maybe. It was hard to tell with so much going over her vision sensors. This wasn't safe programming...

"Ron!" someone screamed. Kim, the other Kim. A flurry of red hair took over, moving limbs... and a sickening crunch.

A jolt like lightning dove through 993.

"My reprogramming thingy!" Shego again. "Possible, you are so clumsy!"

They were probably going to fight again, 993 thought dimly as a command regarding dressing tigers in black leather reached her brain. She welt oddly weak.

Yes, a fight. That's what happened. And someone yelling about Drakken's stupid spilled eggs everywhere, just calling for someone to slip in them.

993 wondered if that person called Ned at the nasty restaurant liked eggs. She bet he did. Had Ron liked eggs? Eggs were suddenly very important right now. She barely noticed her body slump to the floor.

If Ron didn't like eggs, it was his loss.

* * *

"What a mess," Kim muttered under her breath. "What a big mess."

And she wasn't referring just to the grocery spill mess that Shego had slipped in after Kim had delievered a roundhouse kick into her sides. Or the splattered milk and Capt'n Crunch that covered the walls after Shego had slid right into Drakken and then a computer terminal. Admittedly, though, those had been pretty good. There was nothing more satisfying than watching Shego carried off to jail with breakfast gunk in her hair. Apparently egg whites made good conditioner.

No, none of that was quite the same mess that was now going through her head.

"Quite the after-prom activity, isn't it?" Monique asked with a faint giggle.

Kim looked up at her and sighed. "I spend my post-prom fighting for my identity, you spend it tied to a post."

Monique shrugged. "I figure it's something I can write in my journal tonight, watching my girl kick bad guy behind. It's like a mix between wrestling and a soap opera."

"What do you mean by that?" Kim set to working on the rope's knots; that synthodrone had tied Monique up pretty darn good.

"Kim, I believe I said something earlier. About you being a complete moronic idiot ditz child that has no clue of what's going on?"

Kim laughed in spite of herself. "I don't recall you saying those exact words."

Monique wriggled against the ropes. "Still too tight. Well, I may not have quoted a quote for you, but I said something along that line, and if nothing else, I was thinking those exact words!"

Another strand of rope slipped from Kim's fist. She knew exactly what Monique was getting at. Monique had watched the entire thing from too good a vantage point. And she prided herself on stuff like this. "So am I the biggest jerk in the world?" She hadn't meant to sound quite so whiney.

A laugh. "I think that's up to you to answer that particular question. Girl, like I was telling you earlier... no, wait, that was the freaky syntho-chick. Anyway, I was saying to someone I thought was you that I may have never thought before how perfect you and Ron are for each other--"

"Perfect?" Kim let go of the rope tangle. Of course they were perfect for each other, they were best friends. You had to fit perfectly to be best friends and... no, this was not what she wanted to deal with. This was the big mess.

"Yes, perfect," Monique continued. "Last night, when I saw Ron and the syntho-chick, I knew. That's what I told her."

"So you think Ron and the synthodrone were made for each other?" Strange thought. The synthodrone was lying, powered down, in a crumpled heap in the other room, and Ron didn't look much better. Stretched out with a pillow, still unconscious, Rufus keeping a close watch on them.

"Kim, honey, are you trying to make my day more miserable on purpose? Of course I mean you! The real, breathing you that isn't a syntho-freak that is trying to get her friend down from a post where she has been tied up like a human sacrifice!"

So humor wasn't working.

"And so," she sang. "I saw Ron and who I thought was you. And by thinking it was you, I put you in my mind with Ron. I doubt you're understanding a word of this, but who cares? You two have been friends for eons, and Oprah and ten thousand couples therapists say the exact same thing: best friends make great romances."

"When did Oprah say that specifically?" Kim asked.

"I'm sure she did at least once in her career. I haven't seen all her shows, you know. Now stop interrupting me and make with the untying! You and Ron are best friends, and I think we both know at this point that he is head over heels in love with you."

Somehow that statement hit Kim harder than she thought possible. "He's not in love with me." It didn't sound firm even to her. "It was all a big misunderstanding..."

"A big misunderstanding about you," Monique interjected. "Think, girl. Best friends."

"Best friends," Kim echoed. She sighed again and tried to wipe the drying egg gunk off of her shirt. "Is that even possible at this point?"

Monique's smile finally faded. "I think that is up to you to decide. But come on, he saved the day! Even after an apparent lot of drama I tragically missed."

It had been awhile since Ron had saved the day. Those were always odd times. Yes, she was supposed to be the teen hero, but.. she had never really minded those occasions. It was sort of fun to not be responsible for once, to have the luxury of being the damsel--in-distress. "It was pretty awesome of him. Definitely unconventional heroism, but..."

"Close enough to a knight in shining armor."

Kim gasped. For one brief moment the image took over her mind, the imaginary sight of Ron in the process of being bucked off a white steed while waving a sword madly around his head. A funny image, but...

Monique laughed again. "I see a look, Kim. I see a look."

She could hardly nod. Was Monique right? "I doubt you said any of this to the synthodrone."

"Well, so I was too busy asking questions, but I was thinking it! Now make with the look!"

"I thought my job right now was to somehow get you down." She glanced over at Ron. Oh, he had better be okay. If anything happened to him, she'd... She was supposed to be mad at him. But how was one supposed to stay mad at someone who had said what Ron had said? "I could borrow Rufus."

"I'm not having naked mole rat drool all over me."

"I'll go look for a knife or something to cut the rope." It was more than necessary--she suddenly found that she couldn't bare to look at Ron. Not with her brain being the muddle it was. Not with her pulse going this haywire.

It had been a long, long day since last night.

She stepped into the room where the synthodrone lay. Did Drakken and Shego even keep knives around here? They had better.

Maybe Ron had a pocketknife on him. No, he didn't own a pocketknife to her knowledge, and to check would require going back out there and seeing him and...

It was getting harder to breathe. Somehow she had to sort through this mess. It was a lot for a girl to deal with. Ron suddenly being in love with her.

No, it wasn't sudden. Had he seemed at all.. jealous... the other night at the tree house?

She realized she wasn't looking for anything sharp.

She had been... sort of touched at his jealousy. Even if she hadn't realized it was jealousy. But Ron was dear to her, and always would be.

So what was the problem?

Knife. Cutting Monique's ropes. That's what she had to focus on. Focus, focus, focus. Backpack. Where had she left the backpack? That would have a tool. That is, if the synthodrone hadn't gone through it yet and messed up the system.

The backpack was outside with Ron!

Kim growled and kicked in the direction of the synthodrone. Stupid thing, stealing her backpack and her life and her best friend and that really cute outfit she had just bought a few weeks ago...

An outfit without food mess all over it. Kim hadn't survived the grocery slippage, either.

Ron wasn't the problem. The lack of decent clothing was. It would take several washes and ten scoops of Oxy-Clean to get that egg out. That was it, that was how she would add some sanity back to her life. Switch clothing, and think about Ron later.

She had barely finished changing into the other outfit when the door opened.

"Hi."

Her heart tried to wrestle its way past her ribs. It was Ron.

Lovely. Ron was here, and Monique wasn't here to yell at her about what to do. And Kim had no idea what to do. Yell at him again? Except she wasn't really mad at him, per say. Just really, really confused. Think, Kim, think. You've dealt with boys before. Ron is just another boy.

Ron had never been a boy before.

She really needed more time to think than this. Except that there was no time and he was standing just behind her and... well, it was Ron. Her best friend, whom she had known for years, whom she had told everything to. Her best friend. Great. This was it. Somehow this conversation would end with something official. She took a deep breath and turned around. "Ron, I--"

"I'm so sorry about the confusion," he said. He looked only a little worse for the air, still a little dazed, hair a mess.

"Me, too," she whispered. "Big, big confusion. It's just that, Ron, it startled me--"

He wasn't listening. "Because I'm sure you're a perfectly nice synthodrone, or would be if you weren't under Drakken's control and trying to kill me."

For a moment all Kim could do was stare. Ron thought she was the synthodrone...

He smiled wanly and scratched the back of his neck. "So I'm hoping that reprogramming I did of you works out for the best, because I honestly hadn't the slightest idea what I was doing. So really, no harm intended, it's just what I had to do, saving the day and all. Because it was a bit twisted of you to pretend to be Kim."

"I..." She glanced at the real synthodrone. Still dead to the world. Didn't seem to be good reprogramming there.

"Wow," he continued. "I can't believe I'm sharing my feelings like this. It's not something I'm good at, and I've been doing it a lot lately, to all the wrong people. But I have a concussion like nothing, so hopefully no one is watching. You're the only person around that won't yell at me, and I just gotta talk to someone right now."

Rufus poked his head from Ron's pocket, sighing a heavy "oh, brother."

"Because I really do like Kim."

He wasn't going to stop, was he? Kim's heart once again ran for the ribs. "Ron, I..."

"No, no." He held up a hand and shook his head. "I know that whatever computer issues that made you in love me are gone, so I really hope there aren't any hard feelings between us aside from the fact we're probably enemies now. So you don't have to tell me. I've already told Kim how I felt, but I don't think I'm ever going to be able to tell her just how awfully stupid I felt not being able to tell the difference between her and you. But I'm so good at that now."

Kim begged to differ. Perhaps she should just say it outright.

"I don't think she's ever going to forgive me."

That hurt. She hadn't thought a line like that would hurt. Of course she would forgive him, she'd do anything for him.

His smile grew. "Nah. She probably will. I hope she will. Because we did kiss once, long story, and we were able to just avoid talking about that, so hopefully this can be similar and if I don't say anything about my feelings again..." He sighed. "It's just that... I don't think any other synthodrone but you is capable of love. I didn't think I was in love with her until Erik came between us. And then it was the thought of losing her to someone else, that I would have less time with her... I have never, ever worried about that before, with any friend. Not until Kim."

Monique was right; this was like a soap opera. Oh, boy. She had to tell him the truth now. Now. Before even more humiliation struck. Except... this was getting good. No boy had ever talked about her this way. It was... nice.

He took a few clumsy steps forward, seemingly almost ready to faint again. He must have been hit in the head pretty hard. At least he was alive. "We've been best friends forever, Kim and I, and I guess I didn't want that to end. We could grow up, marry different people, and that'd be weird. I mean, can you be best friends with someone you're not married with? Because everyone says those rules change."

Marriage?

"And I don't mean to assume that I would marry Kim. I mean, I'm 16, it would be freakishly early, but... I didn't want to lose my best friend, and then I just happened to realize that I wasn't happy with just being best friends. You don't share everything we have and just be pals." He paused and stared at nothing in particular. Then he moaned and slapped himself in the face. "Sick and wrong! I'm so sorry you had to hear that! That is so the concussion talking! Look." He took a deep breath. "Do you know where Kim is?"

Kim didn't reply. The last section of the rant had hardly processed in her brain. Those crazy things Monique had said were echoing themselves louder and louder.

So her best friend had just declared his love for her. He had shown up after everything. Was that really so hard to accept?

She didn't even have time to answer her own question. Before she knew it, she was across the room with her arms around Ron's neck in a crazy reenactment of the incident with the moodulator. Kissing him. Her second kiss of that day.

And it wasn't that bad.

"I'm sorry, Ron," she murmured. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was just so..."

And he was pushing her away. She was fighting against him, his hands squeezed around her arms, shoving her back. "Ron!"

His face was horrified. "I thought you were deprogrammed!"

So he could still be an idiot. She met his eyes and tried her best to frown. "Ron, you moron. You still can't tell the difference between me and the synthodrone." She shoved her hand in front of his eyes--the scar from earlier was still there. It was rather nice to see another wave of horror in his expression.

"But you're... you're..." he began. "Kim?"

The smile broke through. "Sorry about that kiss. I thought that since you did it to me earlier today, that I could..."

He stared back at the real synthodrone. "Kim? You heard all of that?"

The time for truth. "Yes, I heard all of that. Your baring of the soul."

"And you kissed me."

Suddenly whatever had possessed her to do that very thing subsided. It was her turn to be humiliated. "I... I guess I had never thought of it that way. You know, this is a bit sudden for me. And..." She stepped back, almost sick. This wasn't turning out the way she had expected. This was a tad awkweird. "I'm so sorry about earlier. But a girl doesn't always like to be pounced on and kissed like this morning."

He still looked bewildered. Typical Ron. Well, she had been putting up with that for years, and she could continue to do so.

Was it really so strange to date your best friend?

She closed her eyes. This would have to be winged. "Ron, no matter, you are my best friend. And I don't want to lose you , either. And this prom thing has been way too overdramatic so far. So..." The thought itself came with the words, drumming along with her heart. "Why not? I don't want to be hating you forever, so why not? Do you forgive me?"

She opened her eyes, half-expecting him to storm off in confusion and anger. He could be so moody sometimes.

Except this time, he was smiling.

She smiled back.

"This had so not be a concussion fantasy," he said.

"We'll have to see."

He took one step toward her. "So... best friends still?"

She nodded. "Best friends."

And then, half a second later, she was back with his arms around his neck and his lips on hers and still no idea what was going on inside of her.

Hopefully it would make sense later. But right now, she had this.

And somewhere in the distance was someone's voice, screaming about someone untying her.

* * *

993 would never know why they let her live. Or stay running. She wasn't sure what to call herself anymore. Some cop that had arrested Shego and Dr. Drakken Emperor of the Universe had said something about a friend interested in robotics and Drakken's entire synthodrone line and... well, she had managed to escape whatever that had meant. Probably new programming. And she was sick of that.

Now that she was once again loose in Middleton--until Shego tracked her down again, of course--she would be perfectly happy with her glitches. Whatever those led her to do.

Including returning to Bueno Nacho. She still had a score to settle with that stupid girl there.

And it wasn't just that girl.

Ned. That boy who looked so cute in the glasses.

She wasn't sure, but somehow she couldn't stop thinking about him.

Maybe he'd accept a fake Kim Possible.

**_The End!_**


End file.
